Compendium
by JIMMYJAMSTER728
Summary: This is a collection of story Ideas I have had in my mind for some time now, I bring them out for some fresh air and some fresh responses from you all. Read and get an idea of what kind of things go through my mind when writing new stories. I hope that these ideas also help you develop your own.
1. Frostmourne Chapter 1

**This is a familiar chapter I believe, it was part of my original story as an Omake, that surprising many found to be an interesting story concept. So I decided to post this back up here and also make a second chapter for it. **

**Now this story is something I will probably make several other chapters on, depending how much people like it, also I will be making other story chapters alongside this one so do not expect this one to be the only one that gets attention. I will make chapters if people are interested, but for now this chapter and the second one are the only ones I have made for the moment. I will still be focusing on my other stories, so this will be updated on an irregular basis.**

**Now the basis of this story is that Ichigo got Frostmourne, the Runeblade of the Lich King as his Zanpakuto and the Lich King as his Zanpakuto Spirit. Now I can say for certain this was a bad-ass combination. Ichigo's limitless potential and the Lich Kings godly power would have wrecked the Gotei 13 something savage. So the thought of continuing this has always been on my mind and now that I have post another chapter, I hope to hear your response to it.**

* * *

**Frostmourne**

**Chapter 01: Power Eternal**

Ichigo leapt away as Urahara swung Benihime at him, the blade sliced through a stone boulder like it was nothing, gritting his teeth in frustration as he tried to defend himself against the crazy nut job. All the while he had that damn smile on his face, if was infuriating to only be able to run away as he clung to the damn handle of all that remained of his Zanpakuto.

"Is this all I can do?" Ichigo thought to himself, he had come all this way to fight and save Rukia and yet he couldn't even muster the nerve to fight back. "How can I do what that guy told me?"

_Ichigo felt his world go black as the pain enveloped him, he was blinded as white liquid poured from his eyes and his screams were muffled as the same liquid vomited up from his mouth. He couldn't stop it; his couldn't help but scream in agony as the transformation continued. Every waking moment he tried to remain conscious was another that was filled with untold agony. Above him he could see three figures looking down at him, before his vision went black and the pain he felt vanished along with all other feeling._

* * *

_Ichigo eyes opened and found himself looking up towards a cloud covered sky that cracked with lightning, blue flashes of light could be seen everywhere. He felt the cold chill as frigid wind passed over him, freezing him to the bone; quickly he shot up to find himself no longer within the dark pit Urahara had thrown him into. But in a frozen barren tundra, he was in the middle of a snowy valley between to massive mountain ranges, all he could see was snow and rock and hear only the wind and thunder above. Where in the hell was he?_

"_You are here." Ichigo heard a whisper on the wind, quickly turning to the voice his eyes widened in shock at what lay behind him. Instead of a similar long valley that now lay behind him, a massive tower of ice and snow planted within a massive field of jagged columns of Ice that rose up two hundred feet into the air. But at the pinnacle of the tower Ichigo could see a single crystal of a deep ocean blue._

"_Come to me." Another call echoed in his ears, Ichigo gazed up at the crystal and immediately he felt a gaze upon him, there was something above him, it was watching him, studying him, judging him._

_Without another word he walked, taking one step after the other towards the massive spire of ice and snow, moving towards the person who likely held to answers he sought._

_He travelled for what seemed like hours, fighting against the colds winds and the treacherous terrain, trying to find a way to the tower, and as he approached its looming structure cast a forbidding shadow over him. All around him was a forest of icy claws and jagged spikes that jutted from the ground, this place was both a nightmare, yet somehow, it almost was a place he could call his own, as if this was a part of him. His journey halted at the base of the spire, a long winding stairwell lead up the spire to its pinnacle, yet before he could make his ascension he was forced to a halt._

"_You tread upon this plane as if it is your own, it is not." Came a voice from the wind, its words were low and hollow, yet there was some sort of sage like wisdom that carried itself in the tone, as if the owner of the voice was a Wiseman._

"_Who are you?" Ichigo called out, his words echoing on the wind and travelling far._

"_You ask my name, yet you know not who you are." The voice chided, as if scorning him for his lack of knowledge._

"_What are you talking about? I am Ichigo Kurosaki!" he called out once more._

"_You know what you are named, but do you know who you actually are?" the voice said, its words were a riddle, as if testing him to find out who he really is._

"_Shut up! What the hell is the point of this?" Ichigo yelled, but was met only by a chuckle, a deep and dark laughter that made ones bone tremble more than the cold air around him._

"_I wish to see if you are worthy of the mantle I wish to bestow upon you." The voice said._

"_What are you talking about?" called out Ichigo, he kept speaking in riddles, how was he meant to know what he was talking about._

_Then from above something fell from the sky, he saw one shards of blue ice collide with the ground, and then he turned as another did so just opposite of him. Then he felt the ground beneath him begin to buckle, and with another collision the earth he stood upon shattered and he fell into the darkness, falling beside him were the same blue ice shards, but there were dozens more, hundreds more._

"_Your first awaits you." The voice said as he fell. "You seek to regain your power, I give you this chance." Ichigo searched around looking for him. "With the power within you, you will become more than you ever could be."_

"_How? I don't have the powers of a Death God anymore!" screamed Ichigo as he continued to fall._

"_Foolish child, you know not that you hold the power within you." The voice said. "What was destroyed by Byakuya Kuchiki was merely the power given to you by Rukia, what I offer you, is your true power."_

"_My… power." Ichigo murmured._

"_Yes, it has been lying dormant for too long, it has slept and remained unused for years, and only now have you begun to feel it." the voice said. "This place, the connection you have to it, but it is fading."_

_True enough Ichigo watched as the world above him began to fade and decay._

"_You have not much time." the voice called, booming and commanding. "Find the shell that holds the power you seek, for if you do not, then you will become a mindless animal, fit only to be slaughtered."_

"_How the hell do I find it!?" called out Ichigo as his body slammed into the ground and then he felt himself sinking, all around him was darkness, with only a small amount of illumination from the lights of the hundreds of crystals that had followed him here._

'_How do I find it?' Ichigo thought, how was he to find his power, how was he meant to do anything when he couldn't even get out of a pit before he turned into a hollow. 'I can't even sense spiritual energy all that good either.'_

_Ichigo knew he had only a few minutes to find his Death God powers before he would turn into a hollow, but how? He did not know. If he knew what his powers looked like then maybe he could do something._

'_Wait…' Ichigo thought for a moment, he remembered something Uryu told him when they first met about spiritual energy, but he also knew that he was a Death God, but how? "He said…'didn't you know?'" No there was more, what was it? 'Didn't you know that...? Shingami's…' Come on, what was it? 'Shinigami's spiritual ribbons are red.' That was it!_

_Ichigo focus his senses and soon enough a seen of white ribbons surrounded him, searching he found a single ribbon before him, red and… covered in strange symbols. Ichigo grabbed the cloth and instantly the shards dispelled aside from one that moved towards him. When close a hole opened at the top of it and there was the hilt of a sword._

"_What… the…?" Ichigo choked, this was his power, but it was just the sword._

"_Very good." Ichigo turned and found only darkness around him, where was this man. "You found it, and have completed the first stage of your ascension to take upon the mantle of my power."_

"_Who are you?"_

"_I am someone who wishes you to strive forward." The voice said. "In you there is a power and will to fight, that overshadows any force in this world and beyond, your indomitable spirit is what will allow you to succeed and overcome any obstacle in your path."_

_Ichigo didn't know what he was talking about, it was always in riddles._

"_Who are you?" Ichigo called again, to which he was only met with silence._

"_My name is ******" the voice called, Ichigo didn't hear it aside from static, what was that. "I see, you are not yet ready." The world around them began to shake and the waters Ichigo was in began to churn and thrash. "Quickly take the sword, return to the world and show them your true power, show them how much of a warrior you are."_

_Ichigo looked towards the hilt of the zanpakuto and grasped it, and when he did he felt the power he had lost days ago return to him. He felt the power of the Death God's flow through his body and strengthening him. With a roar he tore it from the ice and then all around him exploded with a bright light._

* * *

Ichigo felt a hand descend on his shoulder, turning Ichigo saw Urahara there right behind him with Benehime raised and ready to strike, before Ichigo was tugged back and thrown off his feet. Looking up he saw the blade descending towards him, Ichigo rolled to the side and avoided the strike as it shattered the ground beneath him. Ichigo rolled to his feet and took off once more, running for his life as the man chased after him, intent on killing him where he stood.

'Shit! He's going to kill me!' Ichigo's thoughts screamed within his mind. 'I'm going to die! I'm going to die!' Although there was fear within him, he also held some frustration and anger, he had come here to get his powers back to save Rukia and now he was going to die. It was pathetic and he knew it, how was he meant to do anything when he couldn't even stand and fight.

'Stop running you coward.' Ichigo halted, the voice had returned, and it was brimming with anger and disappointment. 'You call yourself a warrior; you are full of doubt and fear. A true warrior does not feel this; he instils it into his enemies.'

'I can't fight him, I don't have a weapon.' Ichigo retorted, his anger overshadowing his fear of death, then how world shifted around him, no longer within the underground training area, but on a high perch overlooking a frozen wasteland.

"Pathetic." Ichigo turned and instead of thinking he would see nothing, he was wrong, and his eyes widened at the very sight before him.

Sitting upon a throne carved into the Ice of a massive blue crystal was an ethereal being covered in armour. Silver armour covered his feet, greaves, chest, wrists hands and shoulders, skulls and spikes adorned them, a screaming visage of the damned and suffering that was to accompany any who fell before him. Ichigo could see the power that radiated from the being in front of him, it was all encompassing, and Ichigo felt dread and anger seep from seep from the being that sat upon that Frozen Throne.

But it was the crown that drew his attention; it was a full face and head crown, with only a slot for the eyes which had a nose guard, and a narrow vertical opening beneath that guard that gradually opened up and out of the crown. The very top of the helm was made in some twisted mockery of a crown, sharped spikes jutted out along the top of the helmet and around, with the largest being at the front and having a small blue crystal imbedded within. Along with a large spike that had the depiction of a skull that stared with a much hatred as the one who wore it.

But there was nothing there, just a dark mist that was held within the armour by an unseen force, and all that tell Ichigo that there was something within, were the two glowing orbs that were as cold as the tundra behind him. He could certainly say he was at the mercy of the being before him; it was as if he was standing before a king than anything else, but this was no normal form of royalty, this being was a ruler of something much darker.

"You run and hide and yet you still have the nerve to think yourself better than him." said the voice; his words were dark and foreboding and promised pain unimaginable to any who defied him. "Better, than me." His words dropped into a deep growl, his words distorted and were filled with the echoing of many voices, screaming, wailing, and begging, all at the same time. He felt a pressure on him and every fibre of his being was being squeezed by the mere gaze of the being before him.

"I can't beat him!" Ichigo tried to refute him, true he thought he could defeat Kisuke is he had a sword, but he didn't. "I cannot beat the guy without a sword!"

"Then call out my name." The voice said simply, but the echoing of the damned could still be heard. "Take my power and crush the boisterous fool."

"But how?" said Ichigo, how was he meant to take his power and wield it when he could even hear his words.

"Then you are not worthy to hear my name." The voice said, again disappointment laced its cold and dark words. "But…" Ichigo looked up; hope in his eyes, maybe there was an alternative. "I can give you another power, though you will not take the mantle of my being, you may take up my sword."

Ichigo watched as a crystal rose from the frozen ground in front of him, but it was not the crystal that drew Ichigo's eyes, but what lay within, a sword, both beautiful and terrifying.

"Take this weapon, become instrument of war." The voice said. "Where you tread, your enemies will know their doom approaches." Ichigo reached for the crystal. "You will be a force of retribution that will cleanse all in your path." Ichigo touched the crystal and it glowed. "Take up my Runeblade, take up…"

* * *

Urahara watched as Ichigo stood in the middle of the small pass between two large rock formations, he was just standing there and doing nothing, he sighed to himself, it looked like Ichigo wasn't going to be able to do this. He had hopes for the boy, he had promise and if he actually pulled this off then they could do more than just save that Rukia girl, but it would seem that he had only wasted what little time had used on the boy. It would be best to finish this, a single strike and he could remove the boys powers, no point in letting him keep them, if he couldn't grow and get stronger, than he was only a danger to himself at the moment.

Urahara charged forward and readied to strike, but before he could make a move Ichigo twisted around and then he raised the handle up. The former twelfth division captain felt a spike in his reiatsu, had he actually done it?

"FROSTMOURNE!" A massive explosion of light and energy erupted from Ichigo's position, Urahara halted in his charge to shield himself from the sudden outburst of spiritual energy. Urahara had to admit that the outburst was very powerful; he didn't expect him to release it like that. But he noticed something coming from him, he almost considered it dark and oppressing, but not as a force, as if there was something that was judging him right now and seeing if he was worthy. How odd.

Urahara opened his eyes and was surprised by what he saw, instead of a barren desert area he was in the middle of a frozen wasteland, the boys release has frozen everything, and it looked like his Zanpakuto was an Ice-type. Looking back he noticed Ichigo kneeling and in his right hand was his zanpakuto, and what a zanpakuto it was.

The blade of the weapon double edge and silver, there were few imperfections and chipped pieces here and there, but still solid and sturdy. As the blade went closer to the hilt certain patterns began to emerge, along one edge near the top of the blade was several jagged teeth, which looked sharp enough to actually rip someone apart. Also along the flat of the blade were some intricate symbols that glow a deep azure blue and pulses like a heart, as if the very thing was alive.

Above the blade was the hit that came in three parts. The first were the crossguards, there were two, and both were connected to a triangular plate that was inscribed with similar runes as on the blade. From this two four inch long claws jutted out from either side of the plate and looked as sharp as the blade itself. Above them was the second crossguard, solid metal and intricately designed, on the end of both were skull pummels that added to image of the blade, and wrapped around the lengths were horns. These horns led to the final piece of the crossguard, the ram skull that adorned the plate and its eye socket were aglow with a strange energy and mist. The handle was metal and with rings along the lengths with a simple pummel. All in all it was a very scary weapon to look at, but it was likely just for show.

"My Kurosaki that is a scary looking sword you have there." Urahara said his voice jovial as always and without a care in the world. "Now that you have released your Zanpakuto we can really start stage three."

Silence only met him, Urahara raised his sword at the ready, as Ichigo rose he pulled the sword from the snow covered ground. His stance was relaxed and yet ready to change at any moment.

"Urahara." Ichigo asked, the shop keeper looked at the young shinigami and watched as he raised his blade up and held it horizontally in front of him and raising his free hand over it. "Please dodge the next attack."

Urahara wondered what he was talking about, did he actually think that he could take him down with his next attack. Then Urahara watched as the three remaining needles from the Bankin shattered from his shoulder, and then he swiped his over the blade and veil of energy appeared and coiled around the blade.

"I cannot hold back!" Ichigo called out, as he raised the blade up and then slashed it downwards, Urahara quickly reacted.

"Nake: Chikasumi no Tate!" But the next moment an explosion occurred and all around was consumed by a bright light.

In the distance Tessai, Ururu and Jinta hid behind a rock, the attack from Ichigo's shikai had created a small shockwave and they were forced to take cover behind a still crumbling rock. But only a few seconds later did the wave dissipate and disappear completely. Hesitantly they all moved to check and see what had happened, Urahara was very close to that explosion, and they had no idea if he was alright or not. And when they peeked over they were shocked by what they were looking at.

* * *

Urahara looked at his Blood Mist Shield and wash surprised that there was anything left of it, it had been nearly torn apart, and there wasn't even a single inch of the shield that didn't have a crack in it. That attack of Ichigo's was powerful; he looked down at his zanpakuto to see a thin layer of frost over his weapon as well as a long crack running along the length of the blade, she had taken a beating despite the shield, that was one powerful attack. He almost regretted not taking Ichigo's advice on dodging when he told him to.

But what surprised him most was the fact that beside him was a large opening in the earth that went as far as he could see and also his had was laying on the ground and was utterly ruined. He would have cried then and there if not for a voice that took him out of his stupor.

"Should we continue our match Urahara?" looking up Kisuke could see Ichigo looking down at him from behind the Blood Mist Shield, his eyes betraying nothing but determination and the will to fight on. Also in his hand was the blade that was still glowing with power, and it looked like it was eager in some way, the way those eyes in the rams skull looked at him made him a little nervous.

"No need, you have passed the third stage." Urahara said. Before he turned and picked up his hat and put it on his head, for a short moment there was silence. And then unexplicently Urahara fell to the ground and started rolling around like a child having a tantrum. "It's not the same! You ruined my hat! You ruined my hat!"

Ichigo watched him behave like a child for only a moment before he lifted up Frostmourne and examined the blade. The power that seeped off it was incredible; he never thought he could wield a weapon like this. With it he knew for certain he could save Rukia.

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**Chapter 01. Did you like it?**


	2. Frostmourne Chapter 2

**I never actually expected to make a second chapter for this, so i was pleasantly surprised when i came up with the idea of making a second chapter. And I have to say it came together very well. I think that if I even got the time this could become a major story. But for now it is still in the works within the confines of my mind.**

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**Frostmourne**

**Chapter 02: Trials of the King**

"What will you do now?"

Ichigo looked down from his position on the overcrop to the seven soldiers below him, all wearing silver armour with blue trimming and armed with simple short swords and shields. He could not see much other than that, the howling winds and snow made almost everything in sight impossible to see. But even if he could he saw that there was nothing else but frozen mountain peaks over the horizon and a dark sky that glowed and eerie dull blue.

"Kick their asses," Ichigo replied back with a whisper, grasping the sword at his hip and drawing it as he lunged off the cliff side and towards the unsuspecting soldiers.

As Ichigo fell he landed right on top of one soldier, flattening the poor man. Then quickly he slashed at the closest opponent and was rewarded when his blade tasted fresh blood, easily piercing through the steel chestplate. Taking Frostmourne in both hands Ichigo turned and slashed at another, who had only just realized what had occurred to his two fallen comrades.

As the third fell the remaining four drew their swords and raised their shields in defence, but Ichigo was already upon them. The young Shinigami dropped Frostmourne down on top of the closest man, only to be surprised when the shield he struck did not shatter or split in two. He thought this blade was a lot tougher than some flimsy steel, maybe it was because it was thicker or something.

"Do not become complacent, that blade only reflects your own power, armour bulk and strength mean nothing if you have it, but you have little to boast about," Ichigo heard the baritone voice of his current resident within his mind, he didn't know what to call him, but he said he was a King so he settled on that. "And don't get distracted so easily, it will be the death of you."

Ichigo glanced to the right and left and saw that he was being flanked, both soldiers aiming their swords to pierce the young shinigami's sides. Quickly jumping back, Ichigo avoided being skewered, and tried to quickly counter with a quick thrust. Lunging forward and aiming for the centre of the man's chest, but scowled when his sword was deflected over the shield that came in to intercept the strike.

Ichigo awkwardly tried to recover from his failed attack but had to twist around thrust that moved towards his gut. Sadly he turned his back on one of the other guardsmen and did not see the sword aimed for his back. Ichigo let out a pained cry as the sword slashed through his upper back, leaving a painful wound that travelled down his left shoulder and close to his opposite hip. Pulling his sword back the orange haired Shinigami quickly forced his attacker back before defending against another attacking from his opposite side.

Deflecting the blow and then kicking the man back Ichigo blocked s third attack from another guardsman, before countering with a fist to the face. The man stumbled away and Ichigo tried to capitalize on the dazed opponent, but as he did he found his sword blocked by the shield of the fourth man. Ichigo leaped back again and gained some ground, turning around to face one who charged him with a wordless battle cry.

Ichigo deflected the sword downwards before stabbing up and through the man's chest, pulling his blade up before kicking the man off. Turning the Shinigami faced the three remaining soldiers, all of whom stood in a single line with their shield raised and their swords drawn back and resting besides their shields.

"So little skill, raw power and strength are not what you should focus upon, it will not bring you victory here,"

"Just watch!" Ichigo shouted, charging the small line of soldiers, Frostmourne drawn back and ready to deliver a powerful swing.

As Frostmourne moved to collide with then, the farthest on the left turned to take the attack, but he was not the only one. The guardsman next to him moved to take the blow as well, and Ichigo found that despite the power of his swing, all it did was made them skid along the snow an inch or two.

"Pathetic," The King scoffed with obvious disappointment.

Ichigo was so caught up that he only just noticed the third soldier moving up to stab him from his right. Quickly rolling away the Shinigami avoided having his side impaled, but as he rose he faced down three well organised soldiers who advanced on him as one. Ichigo found himself being assaulted from all sides.

The three soldiers moving together well, the three were obviously trained to fight in a unit. One would direct the Shinigami's attention, while the other would strike at any openings and act as the defence when Ichigo did attack. It was even harder when they shifted between these roles multiple times, making it hard to find a rhythm.

Soon enough Ichigo was solely on the defensive, unable to attack unless he leave himself open to a debilitating or mortal wound. Something he couldn't allow with how he was going at the moment, even his defence was not enough to stop small gashes and cuts to form along his arms and legs.

'Damn it!' Ichigo cursed mentally, trying figure out how to get past these guys defences.

With a final curse Ichigo took a gamble to try and win, he waited for the one to his left to try and defend. After nearly a minute of deflecting and blocking strikes Ichigo was able to attempt a counter and force the one on the left to defend himself. As the other two tried to strike and draw his attention Ichigo focused only on the one he had just attacked.

Ichigo quickly strafed to the side and out of the range of the other two soldiers, quickly he moved up to the soldiers side and slashed at the side of the man's neck. Rewarded with a spray of blood from his opened throat, as the man fell forward Ichigo lunged over him and towards the next man. With another slash Ichigo blocked the strike before quickly redirecting it towards the ground, before slamming his pummel into the man's face.

As he fell away in a daze Ichigo attacked the second soldier, batting away the sword and then doing the same with the shield. He finished the man off with a single descending strike that cleaved through the man's chest. Ichigo looked to the last man, finding him attempting one final attack. Ichigo easily batted aside the sword and lopped off the man's leg, before stabbing his blade through the man's chest and heart.

Ichigo let out a breath and let the rush of the battle clear away, leaving him to feel the cold winds sting the many cuts on his arms and legs and the large one on his back.

"Atrocious, truly a novice warrior, no wonder that fool does not teach you anything but how to use raw power and strength," The King inquired, its echoing words grading on Ichigo's ears and nerves at the same time.

"What the hell?" Ichigo shouted, almost to no one. "I am doing these tests to prove to you I am worthy, and all you do is insult me and call me out on what I do wrong!"

"Because all you do is make mistakes!" The King's words boomed across the tundra, and Ichigo felt himself stumble back as a powerful wind collided with him. "You think because you have a sword and that you can kill with it you are strong? You are a fool!"

Ichigo caught himself before he fell and glared at seemingly nothing, but he settled on just shouting to the top of the massive citadel at the end of the valley he resided in. It was there that the bastard was looking down on him from.

"I have been fighting and winning, what more is there than that?" Ichigo shouted, not understanding the King's point.

"Winning? Do you count this as a victory? Because they are all dead you still stand? You think that because you hold that blade you are invincible?" The King asked, calm yet at the same time raging with barely contained anger, something Ichigo had realized early on was something he should not bring down upon himself. "Then what will you do when you fight those who do not fight with the same?"

Ichigo did not understand, what the hell did he mean by not fighting the same, sadly finding out was not an option. Lurching forward the Shinigami let out a pained cry as he felt something lodge into his shoulder. Looking over his saw an arrow lodge in his right shoulder and soon he felt another one embed itself in his lower back. Ichigo turned quickly and deflected a third, as he turned he noticed several shadows moving his way through the snow.

'Bastard sent these guys to attack me from behind,' He seethed through his teeth.

Ichigo raised Frostmourne and readied himself for a fight, his eyes scanning the veil of white ahead of him for how many of these guys he would be dealing with. He counted about twenty before the first one was on him. The guardsman like the previous ones he fought, white armour and carried a sword and shield, luckily he knew how to counter these guys. Ichigo quickly ducked under the swipe and moved to the guys left side and slammed the pummel of Frostmourne into his side. He followed up with cutting in the back of his knee, effectively dropping the man for the rest of the fight.

Moving past the first man Ichigo met the second and did the same, ducking under the attack but quickly stabbing the man in the back as he got behind him. As Ichigo pulled his sword free he faced and blocked the strike of a third man, before he quickly threw the blade off and attempted a counter.

But Ichigo felt a powerful force strike his side and send him flying away; he slid along the snow and cried out as he felt his entire side burn with agony. Glancing up the Shinigami saw a man with a staff moving forward, a ball of fire clasped in his palm and a strange aura of purple and blue energy moving around his entire form.

"How do you fair against those who fight not with the sword, those who use magic to beat their foes, what good is your sword when you cannot get close enough to use it?" The King called, demanding an answer despite it being rhetorical.

Ichigo got to his feet and felt his entire side flare with pain, he could see the severe third degree burns and he looked to see his right arm had taken the full impact. Letting Frostmourne rest in his left hand Ichigo prepared to defend himself with only working arm, but he felt his hope of victory diminished when more came into view. Dozens were coming and they were not just soldiers, but more magi and archers.

Deflecting and blocking the soldiers was simple enough, but even he was caught when an arrow struck him unaware or a burst of strange magical energy collided with him. Even the swords seemed to find their mark when he had his backed turned or his gaze lingering somewhere else for a moment too long. Ichigo fought hard and as long as he could, but it would be over soon, he could see it coming. He knew he was going to die, and he knew he couldn't run.

Ichigo cried out as he lashed out wildly, the only thing he could do effectively with all the wounds he had accumulated, his blade slamming onto the soldiers shield almost limply. Before he could withdraw and attempt another attack a soldier rushed over and struck down, and Ichigo glanced in horror as his hand was removed. Stumbling away Ichigo was unprepared when he was struck in the chest by a bolt of energy and he was sent flying away.

Ichigo slid along the ground for a moment before lying on his back, the cool snow the only thing making his wounds feel less painful than they should. So many emotions went through his mind as he lay there, each warring to be the most heard.

The shock of his lost hand. The pain he was feeling at this very moment. The fear of dying right now and simply fading away. Then there was the shame, of not being able to save Rukia and being beaten when so many were still counting on him to succeed. He failed and now he was going to pay for it.

Ichigo looked up, seeing a man with an axe in hand, the keen edge aimed for his neck. Ichigo let a stray tear leave his eyes as he realized how much he had failed and that now he was going to die and the only thing that would be remembered is he died without making a difference. Ichigo felt the instant pain and release as his head parted his shoulders.

* * *

"As expected from you, so fearful of death yet you do little to stave off its touch," The King stated.

Ichigo opened his eyes, looking around and finding himself back on the familiar platform where the strange king resided. Lifting himself up the Shinigami found he had no wounds; his hand was still connected to his body as well as his head. Letting out a relieved sigh the substitute lifted himself back up and tried to make sense of what happened.

"Do you know why you failed boy?" The King said.

"Because I was outnumbered," Ichigo said.

"Wrong, you were beaten because you were not strong enough, not skilled enough, and not smart enough." The King scolded, booming at it reprimanded the Shinigami for his failure.

Ichigo scowled but did not comment, he knew better than speak out of turn with this guy, it usually resulted in something bad happening.

"Had you actually utilized that weapon for more than something other than a sharp piece of metal, then you may have actually been able to fight, but instead you act like a brute who knows only which end of the sword to hold onto." The King within the Frozen Throne continued to berate the boy, who for his part was starting to get sick of this.

Every night he had been dealing with this guy, doing all kinds of tests and trials to prove his skills and abilities and every time he finished them he was met with scorn and ridicule. From capturing a enemies location, something he did easily enough when he got the hang of wielding Frostmounre, to taking out the leader of band of warriors. It was simple stuff really, especially when you had enough stamina and strength, but for whatever reason the King kept pulling him up on how he did it wrong.

Now he was commenting he wasn't using his sword right? How the hell could he not be using it right?

"How the hell was I meant to do anything else, the sword is a sword!" Ichigo shouted.

"You are still acting so narrow minded, remember that foolish Shop Keeper, his sword had many unique properties and abilities." The King stated, glaring down at Ichigo from his throne. "Able to act both offensively and defensively, why was that?"

Ichigo was silent for a moment, actually listening this time to hear the point the King was making, because he would never admit it, he usually did give sound reasoning.

"Each sword possesses a unique power and characteristic, these are used to improve upon their wielders own powers and abilities." The King said, giving Ichigo a better idea where he was coming from. "A Zanpakuto improves upon the warrior's combat efficiency, the abilities they possess bringing advantages that can be used against their foes, and since they are drawn from the soul of a person, it can also empower the wielder as well."

Ichigo thought on that for a moment, letting the words sink in. He remembered that Renji Arabai guy had that massive sword, it also could segment as well, meaning that it was designed for long range fighting. While Urahara had several abilities, he remembered that wave of force that nearly killed him and also that shield that he summoned. He also remembered that each sword had a name, so that means that Frostmourne had a much bigger purpose than just being a sword.

"So what can you do?" Ichigo asked, and he felt a wave of power move off the armour encased on the ice, as if to answer his question with that display alone.

"So much my boy, so much you wouldn't believe." The King stated, making Ichigo take an unconscious step back, the sword was simply a part of the being before him, he could only wonder what the King was capable of it he learned his true name. "Now leave, you have much to do before we depart for the afterlife, and I expect you to be ready when we depart."

* * *

Ichigo awoke to find himself still in the underground training room; he looked around to find himself alone and with Frostmourne still in his lap. Quickly looking down at the small clock that was set down in front of him, something Urahara had suggested due to his long meditations, and found it to be seven twenty in the morning. Letting out a sigh the orange haired youth got to his feet and made a beeline for the exit, he had been down here for days training and sadly the only progess he had made was with Hat 'n Clogs

He would fight through the day with Urahara and learn how to improve upon his strength and stamina, improving his chances on lasting in a drawn out fight. While at night his Zanpakuto demanded he train with him and be taught what he was not by the shop keeper. Those were always a hassle, not getting any sleep didn't do much to him nor did it bother him, the constant barrage of insults and comments on his stupidity were actually more tiring than anything else.

That King never gave him much in terms of guidance, instead teaching him brutal lessons to follow and to learn from. Always pointing out where he went wrong and never telling him what he needed to do in order to improve but what he had to learn in order to succeed. This experience was even more troubling as he was killed this time; Ichigo shuddered at the memory of dying like that. It was scary, he never thought it would be like that, but the King was always one to prove his point one way or another.

"Ichigo-san! How are you?" The ever happy shop-keeper Urahara chimed as he approached, snapping his fan out and covering his face.

Usually both him and Urahara would begin their daily sparring matches, but today was different. He needed to get back home to his family, there was an important event going on and he wanted to spend some time with his family before he went off to Soul Society.

"Fine," Ichigo replied, moving past the shop keeper and towards the exit, he was still sore about what just happened he wanted a little peace and quiet, because Hat 'n Clogs was anything but quiet.

"So… how is your new friend?" Urahara asked, a goofy smile on his face as he asked.

Urahara had actually asked about the spirit when it came along, and for some reason King told Ichigo to remain quiet. Not willing to get on the guys bad side decided to give a basic run down of the guy, mainly how he would always kick his ass around for doing something. Urahara said that the spirit may reflect on Ichigo's more rigid and intellectual side, but also his aggressive tendencies. From what Ichigo had been experiencing he wouldn't say that he was wrong.

"He cut off may hand and decapitated me, how do you think?" Ichigo asked, looking back at Urahara with the most emotionless deadpan he could muster.

"Ouch, really must be a slave driver." Urahara said with a small nervous chuckle, not finding the lifeless expression on the shinigami's face to his liking.

"He keeps telling me to not act so naïve and actually fight with something more than just brute force," Ichigo said, halting for a moment, thinking on something he was told. "He said my zanpakuto has a unique ability, or several, how do I find it?"

"Comes with time I am afraid, you need to learn to use it, mainly comes from training and meditation, bonding with your spirit." Urahara instructed, but Ichigo was doubtful that would be happening any time soon.

"Right, because the guy I am dealing with just shouts cooperative and friendly," Ichigo replied sarcastically, his face appearing to sour as he spoke each word.

"Give it time, not all Zanpakuto get along at first, even me and Benihime were usually against each other at times." Urahara reassured with a goofy smile, but Ichigo doubted that the Crimson Princess was as vindictive and insane as the one he had.

"Hope so, bastard does nothing but insult me for doing something wrong," Ichigo grumbled before he walked off towards the exit, waving back towards the shop keeper without looking back. "Cyah Urahara."

Ichigo climbed up the steppes and quickly re-entered his body, he quickly stretched and readjusted to his mortal form. Ichigo groaned when he thought about that, that guy would always speak in a strange way, like he was from the feudal era or something. Now he was starting to talk like him, he shuddered to think how much he was starting to have an effect on him.

But he brushed that off; he would be seeing his family soon enough, and then he could relax. His family was going to the fireworks festival tonight, he just hoped that he could get his mind cleared before all this went to hell. Maybe give him some way to understand that damn guys cryptic words.

* * *

The fireworks festival was nice, helped his mind unwind while he watched and allowed him some peace before he waited for the inevitable trip to Soul Society. Aside from the occasional public disturbances his father caused, and also letting Yuza and Karin drink some saki it went rather well. At least now he wasn't so stressed out.

But then when it was all over he was basically summoned to his inner world, like a servant to a kings throne like a good subject.

"Have you learned yet boy?"

"No," Ichigo replied honestly and calmly, not bothering to hide it or make a guess.

"How refreshing, blunt honesty, I had feared your arrogance or stupidity would have made you try to come up with some answer." The King stated impassively, no surprise or warmth in its dark echoing words.

"I want to know, what can I do if I actually use the sword right?" Ichigo asked, it was obvious that this guy wanted him to actually learn to use Frostmounre in more than just having it swing around. But he guessed that he was trying to be subtle about changing Ichigo, like he was trying to figure out how best to work with him rather than go through a standard training regime.

"Lay waste to anything in your path, the sword is the extension of you, without knowing your full potential you will never understand what you are capable of." The King stated.

"More riddles," Ichigo grunted. "How do I find it? Where do I begin?"

The King did not respond quickly, instead he seemed to mull over the next words to speak. Ichigo had never been one to like his voice, the wailing and dark echoing of the mans words were painful to hear at times. But for some reason, some dark gut grinding feeling, he felt the silence did not bode well for him.

"You cannot as you are, you are to strong willed and rigid to change on your own volition," The King stated, and Ichigo again found himself annoyed that all he had been doing was for nothing, then what was he meant to do now? "So I will need to break you first."

Ichigo stared up at the Frozen Throne in surprise at the sudden statement, before he could ask what he meant by those words he found himself falling. Looking he saw the frozen earth of his inner world fast approaching. Before he could correct himself he connected with the ground in a thunderous crash. Ichigo pulled himself out of the ground and quickly moved out of the small crater that even now began to fill with freshly fallen snow.

"What the hell! Why did you do that?!" Ichigo shouted, towards the massive tower in the sky, where he knew the king resided, the bastard had thrown him off that damn thing.

"Niichan," Ichigo's eyes widened before he turned to see his little sister Yuza standing there a few feet from him, shivering in the snow and scared. "Where are we? Why am I here?"

Ichigo for a moment did not know what was going on; his little sister was standing there looking around frantically. Was this some kind of illusion or was this actually real, it shouldn't be possible.

"Yuza, hey, it's alright, everything will be…" He couldn't finished before he heard a whizzing sound and watched in muted horror as an arrow lodged itself into his little sisters shoulder.

She fell to the ground, screaming and crying out in pain, while a few feet behind her a man stood with a bow and drawing another arrow. His purpose here clear, he was here to kill his little sister.

"YUZA!" Ichigo shouted, rushing forward and covering her as another arrow sailed towards his wounded sibling, swatting it out of the air before charging the man.

Ichigo covered the distance quickly before he slashed at the man, destroying the bow and burying his blade through his heart. Ichigo turned back to his sister and rushed over, cradling her crying form in his arms and trying to help her.

"Damn it!" Ichigo shouted in frustration. "Calm down, I'll get you fixed up, everything will be alright."

"It will only get worse, how will you protect her, when so many of your friends are dying around you?"

Ichigo looked up to see that he was no longer alone, he saw his friends there. Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Tatsuki, Karin, Dad, Mizuiro, Keigo were now standing around in the small area ahead of him. Their faces all showing tremendous worry, they were all terrified to find themselves stranded in the middle of a frozen wasteland.

"W-w-w-what?!" Keigo cried out, hugging himself at the frigid temperature, and looking around fearfully.

"What the hell?! Where am I?" Tatsuki yelled out, gritting her teeth tightly as well as her hand in trying to keep warm.

"Wow, it's kind of cold, I wonder how that happened?" Orihime said, shivering in the winds while looking around really confused.

"Hey, where am I…?" Isshin said, looking around dumbly, before seeing Ichigo and putting on a goofy smile. "Oh my delinquent son, where… Yuza?" He looked on to see his son cradling a pale and crying Yuza. "Ichigo what happened?"

As he came close he found her shoulder bloody and an arrow lodged in it, his expression turned to one of horror.

"Ichigo what happened?!" Isshin yelled, his son staring at him shocked.

"How long will you last, how long can you cling to your ideals, as everyone you care for dies?" The King called out, everyone was shaking and looking around frantically, trying to find out where it came from.

"Where did that come from?!" Kiego yelled out in fright, before he screamed again as he fell away when a man with a sword tried to kill him.

"How will you protect them, when you have no power?" The King goaded the young Shinigami, amusement in his tone as he played on his deepest darkest fear.

"No!" Ichigo shouted, grasping Frostmourne and charging in, quickly halting the blade before dispatching the man before he could do more harm.

Ichigo looked around, trying to pick out anything from the thick snow that was blowing in the distance. There was more to this, that sick mother fucker was doing this!

"I-Ichigo-nii…" Ichigo looked back to his young sister Karin, who was looking at him in horro, he had just killed a man and only now did Ichigo realize what he did.

"I-it's alright, just…" Ichigo tried to calm his sister, but even she was not the only one shocked with Ichigo's sudden murderous act.

"You hesitate and are easily distracted, who will die next?" The King yelled, drawing Ichigo's attention back to the folt.

"Stop it! Leave them alone!" Ichigo shouted to the sky, looking to the massive citadel in the distance.

"Do not think you are above inevitability boy, Death does not like to be cheated out of its due!"

Soon Ichigo looked to see dozens of shadows moving from the snow, all coming towards them, all moving with a singular purpose. His heart was beating hard as he watched them come in close, all coming to take all the people he cared about. He felt his blood run cold when he heard the laugh that followed with these words.

"How long can you fight the inevitable?"

"Everyone get together!" Ichigo shouted, his father scooping up Yuza and getting Karin.

Ichigo charged in, trying to get to the closest before he got too close to his friends. He hacked and slashed his way through anything that got to close, making sure nothing got past him.

"Impressive, you fight with conviction only when there is something you wish to protect," The King stated, as if observing the battle for survival as nothing more than an experiment. "But how will you fair when they start dying? Will you succumb or will you try all the harder to save the rest."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, vengeance working its way into his mind; he would make this bastard pay for this. Another slash and he cleaved through the shield of a man, along with his shoulder and torso, before lopping off the head of another man with a roar.

Ichigo looked back to his friend and family, all huddled together, his father and Tatsuki were actually fighting. Even Chad and Orihime tried to defend themselves but seemed to be having trouble, also Uryu seemed handicapped as well. He didn't seem to be able to summon his bow.

"How can you defend them, when you can't defend yourself?" The King inquired, feigning curiosity.

Ichigo turned and felt himself propelled back as a bolt of energy collided with his chest, sending him flying a few feet. Flipping mid-air the orange haired Shinigami landed on his feet, but still stumbled to retain his footing. Before he could charge in Ichigo heard a scream, turning he saw Tatsuki stabbed through the stomach.

She let out a pained cry before she was shoved back onto the ground, the soldier who had done the deep moving to finish her off. Ichigo turned to try and save her, but felt an arrow lodge itself into his leg, forcing him down to a knee. Ichigo looked up to see Tatsuki, the blade moving for her, he tried to let out a cry. But Chad was there, barrelling over the solder and pummelling him into the snow with his fists.

Ichigo in a moment of relief turned and broke off the arrows shaft before rising and blocking an attack, deflecting the sword he quickly decapitated the man and moved for the one with the bow. Quickly covering the distance and dodging the arrows he stabbed the man through the chest before kicking him off his blade.

"Again you fail,"

Ichigo was confused for a second, until he turned back to his friend, and he watched in muted shock as he saw Mizuiro was being cradled by Kiego. Two arrows lodged in his chest, the same arrows that the Shinigami youth had dodged in his charge on the archer. Ichigo for a moment did not move, the weight of what had happened sung in that his friend was dead and it was his fault. Had he actually stopped those arrows Mizuiro would be alive.

"You only prove your weakness, had you any actual power, that boy would still be alive." The King said coldly. "His blood is on your hands, because you do not possess the potential to defend those you love and care for, who are you actually protecting?"

"Ichigo! Don't listen! You need to keep fighting!" Isshin yelled out, fighting against two soldiers, who he was doing quite well against. "You need to remain strong, do not give up!"

"Do those hollow words bring you any comfort? How can you protect anyone when you stand idle over the body of your friend?" The King asked, snapping Ichigo out of his shocked state.

Looking he saw everyone was in danger, he had to stop this, he had to protect everyone. Ichigo leapt into the fray, getting to the closest enemy, fighting hard and fast. Dispatching them all as quickly and brutally as possible, but still it did nothing.

Tatsuki died next, the wound she suffered eventually taking her, and next to follow was Chad. Stabbed in the back and having his throat cut before he could cry out for aid, leaving his large body to be hacked at until the soldiers were barrelled off by Ichigo.

'No! No! No!' Ichigo chanted this in his mind, willing that their deaths did not occur, and none would follow, he was not rewarded.

"They are falling ever so quickly, do you have nothing more to offer or is this all you are capable of?"

"Shut up!" Ichigo roared, slashing forward, cutting down two warriors with a single swing.

Ichigo turned back and to his growing horror another body lay on the ground, Orihime was there. Her body slumped in front of the horrified Karin, who had likely been saved by the bubbling young woman. Ichigo could only stare at the dull lifeless eyes as a stray tears fell from them, her chest cleaved over and leaking fresh blood that froze quickly.

"How tragic, to lose someone so bright and vibrant, but what would you care for a girl whose eyes now only reflect the horror you failed to save her from," The King said.

Ichigo continued fighting, trying to save them, trying to keep them all alive.

He failed.

One by one they all fell, to the sword, to the arrows or to the magic of the never-ending army that sought only to kill them. All the while the voice continued to hound and harass the boy, bringing him ever the more closer to breaking. Only one more remained, only his dear little sister, the arrow still lodged in her shoulder.

"I-i-i-ichi-nii…," His little sister called out, her voice weak.

Ichigo was by her side in a moment, rushing over as the soldiers cautiously moved around him and the wounded girl. He kneeled by her side, his face drenched in blood and tears as he looked down at the only remaining member of his family.

"It's alright, I'll keep you safe, I won't let anyone hurt you." Ichigo stammered out, his voice cracking as he tried to reassure his sister and keep the horrifying truth from actually finding any ground in his already fragile mind.

"I'm… so cold…" Yuza said, shivering slightly in the shinigami's hands. "So… cold…"

"Don't worry, I will get you somewhere warm soon, just give me a little time." Ichigo said, moving to stand, but felt a weak hand on his own.

"Please… don't go…" Yuza tearing up, her voice cracking as she begged her bother to remain with her. "I… don't want… to… be… alone…"

Ichigo did not leave her side, remaining there, hugging her as she let out shallow breaths. He did not let her go, not willing to allow her to simple leave him like this. He was meant to protect his family, his friends, he was meant to keep everyone safe.

Why had he failed? Where did he go wrong? Why couldn't he save them?

All he had left was Yuza, who was slowly breathing in his arms, her glazzy eyes staring at Ichigo as if in a trance. He wouldn't let her go, he wouldn't let her die. He would make sure she survives so she can live and have the life she deserves. He wouldn't fail again, make sure no one harmed her, and protect her always.

She stopped…

Ichigo looked down; Yuza looked up at him, her glassy and dead eyes staring up at her brother. For several seconds he allowed the sudden realization sink in, that he had failed. She had stopped breathing. He didn't know how to feel, he really didn't, everyone he had ever cared about was dead. Their bodies scattered around the snow and his little sister, the kind and innocent Yuza, was dead in his arms. But he simply did not know what to feel at this moment.

"What will you do now Ichigo?" The King called, demanding an answer. "What will you do now that everyone you ever cared for is dead?"

Ichigo remained there, shaking as the frigid winds grew in intensity, but the cold did not affect him. Laying his sister down and grasping his sword he slowly rose back up, and turned towards the tower. Glaring at the very pinnacle where he knew that the King was watching, he uttered a single threat that was matched with his murderous stare.

"I am going to kill you!" Ichigo shouted.

"Then come for me!" The King roared back, and with that the soldiers charged in all their weapons at the ready.

Ichigo swung Frostmounre to the side, and from it appeared a wave of force, throwing anything caught in the blast away. Their bodies shrouded in a fine layer of frost, while their limbs and torso were brutally mangled from the pressure of the attack. Around Ichigo a storm of ice and frost appeared, catching any within two hundred feet of him. Anything touched by this were frozen solid and then shattered by the roaring winds.

More came, ignoring the cold or simply firing their arrows or spells at the enraged Shinigami. Who batted them aside with ease, swinging his sword a second time and creating a long path of jagged ice, that impaled those unfortunate to be caught in its wake.

Ichigo glared at the fortress, nothing would keep him from getting up there and killing that bastard.

* * *

For hours he fought, through armies and powerful warriors. Fighting with everything he had, never giving a single ounce of restraint to his abilities and powers, he made sure that he got there. He faced great swordsman, magical wielders who could match his own powers and even beings that could use bows in manners that would seem impossible.

But he fought through them all.

He shattered their swords, overcame their magic with his own and broke their arrows between his fingers. He did not stop until he reached the peak, till he reached the one who had caused him all that pain. He stood at the base of the throne, ready to deliver judgement and finally make the one pay for what he did.

"So here I am the wolf before the lamb."

Ichigo did not reply, he simply skulked forward and raised Frostmourne, ready to shatter the icy prison and kill the guy.

"Stand down boy,"

Ichigo dropped his sword; it aimed for the helm beneath the ice. But at the tip touched the frozen surface Ichigo was thrown away, colliding with the platform and sliding to the edge.

"You have impressed me, you managed to defeat my obstacles with only some difficulty, that is impressive," The King mused, but Ichigo simply stood and tried to attack again, sending a wave of force through Frostmourne towards the Frozen Throne.

As the force collided it was pushed back by an even greater one, a force that threw Ichigo off the side of the citadel. But before he could fall he was snatched out of the air, grasped around the neck by an invisible force and held there. Ichigo struggled to free himself from whatever held him, finding that no matter where he tried to reach for there was nothing here.

With a hard yank Ichigo was thrown back onto the platform, but forced back onto his knees when he tried to rise. Ichigo glanced up at the Throne, the glowing blue eyes focused intently on him.

"Do you know why I killed them?"

Ichigo tried to stand, and reach for Frostmourne, but found the blade no longer at his side. The blade now rested within the confined of the ice block, next to the armour with its hands closed tightly around the handle.

"Answer me Ichigo,"

"Because: you're a sick fuck!" Ichigo was forced back into the ground, the pressure remaining for a time before it subsided.

"To show you, that your strength does not come from that foolish ideal of keeping your friends and family safe. It is killing the one responsible for harming them." The King stated. "You fought harder and smarter to get to me, your determination and drive to reach me overshadowed anything else."

Ichigo did nothing but glare, he did nothing but stare murderously at the man who murdered everyone he cared about.

"Even when you had nothing left to live for you kept yourself alive, despite your pain and anguish you never gave up on living. Because of that you did not rush ahead like a reckless berserker who didn't care about his survival, you had a goal and you wanted it to be completed." The King said, giving Ichigo reason for his success compared to his many failures in the past.

"But I saw that even then you did not relinquish those pathetic moral codes of yours. As always you hold onto those principles, of honor and protecting your family and friends. That is what makes you weak."

"I am not weak!" Trying to get himself back onto his feet, but the forced always pushing him back into the ground.

"You are weak; you cannot even see how you have chained yourself. You are a shield rather than a sword, you fear being unable to defend someone or yourself, unable to keep them safe, even hurting an enemy is something you fear. What kind of warrior are you if you cannot stomach killing your opponent." The King said, anger seeping into every word as the echoing and maddening wails of the damned increased in volume.

"I am not a murderer!"

"Yet killing me is not murder? What is it them? Vengeance? Retribution? Justice?" The King asked, curious as to the boys answer, but was met with none. "You cannot even claim to admit your own desire to kill me for fear of becoming something you are not. As expected from you, you are so afraid even now that you cannot admit you have become something you have always been afraid of becoming."

Ichigo lowered his head, hating every single word that came from the hollow armor contained within that ice.

"But that desire can be used, your anger, your cruelty and this vengeful nature you now habour can be harnessed." The King stated. "With it you can bring ruin upon your enemies and show them never to stand against you again."

"What's the point?" Ichigo said, his anger subsiding to sorrow as he realized that the reason to fight is now gone. "Everyone is gone, what do I have to fight for now?"

"Stupidity or ignorance, it is usually one or the other with you," The King said, mildly annoyed with the orange haired youths words. "They are not dead, this is my realm, and here is where I judge you and make you stronger, they are simply figments of your mind."

Ichigo's head shot up and looked at the caged suit of armour in shock, his friend and family were alright?

"They're alive?"

"Yes, I did not kill them because I found it amusing it, I did it to break you," The King stated, and Ichigo's glare returned ten-fold. "I needed you to realize that your power does not stem from them, but from your emotions and drive to win no matter the cost."

"You bottle them up and hide your basic instincts and power beneath a wall of despair and regret; it is why you are weak. I broke you in order for you to gain that potential," The King said, releasing his hold on the young Shinigami, allowing Ichigo to stand once more.

As Ichigo got to his feet he stood tall and faced the Frozen Throne, waiting for the point to be made.

"Now you will be ready to face your enemies, but still you are held back by your ideals, if you do not shed them, then you will fail." King said in finality.

Ichigo glared up at him, he was actually suggesting that he get rid of the ideals he had stuck to for almost his entire life. He had always wanted to protect his family and friends, and anyone else he could. To turn his back on that would mean forsaking his own name, he would never do something that was given to him like that. His name reflected his character, and he would never forsake that name or himself for anything.

"I won't give up on who I am, I am 'He who Protects' not anyone else." Ichigo stated, not accepting the Kings words.

"We shall see."

* * *

Ichigo walked towards Urahara's Stoten, it had been a week since the festival and the dark night where he had been forced to witness his friends and families deaths. But still that had not been the end of it; many times the King had tried to force him to change his views. Many times Ichigo had been tested to remember that if he did not do what he had to, he would be killed along with his friends.

But Ichigo was stubborn to admit he knew that the King was right, if he did this half assed he would be dead and maybe everyone else as well. But he couldn't simply just start attacking and killing anyone in sight, he couldn't go down that kind of path. He just hoped that King didn't attempt anything to try and convince him, or do anything that would end badly for his friends.

"Ichigo."

The orange haired Shinigami looked to see his old friend Chad standing there, looking at Ichigo as stoically as ever. In fact Ichigo could sense a substantial amount of spiritual energy from him; it would seem that his old friend has finally gained some power. But how did he come to gain such power?

"Chad, why are you here?" Ichigo inquired.

"I know about Rukia, she saved my life, and I want to repay that in any way I can, so I will be going with you." Chad replied, his strong yet quiet voice was without emotion or doubts, he was ready to follow through on his words.

"You wish to join me on this mission?" Ichigo inquired, with a raised brow, he could sense Chad was stronger, but something was telling him his powers were only partially manifested. Mainly because the King was telling him as such, it was odd how well he was able to sense things and pick out little details so easily.

"The boy had no reached his full potential, you may need to watch for him and the other two," The King said from within the reaches of Ichigo's mind.

"Yeah," Was Chad's reply, but Ichigo was more surprised that he resisted the memory wipe than actually joining, but he suspected that because of his heightened spiritual power it may have something to do with it.

"What's the matter Kurosaki? Are you deaf? Can't you understand what he just told you?" Ichigo turned to face the speaker, finding the Quincy Uryu Ishada standing behind him, garbed in almost all white clothing with a few blue trimmings.

"You're joining as well I suspect," Ichigo stated, kind of annoyed how spending so much time with King was making him so dispassionate now, it was kind of a letdown.

"You are correct," Uryu said, pushing up his glasses. "I wouldn't let a chance like this pass to repay those Death Gods for earlier."

"Well looks like everyone is here," Ichigo turned one last time to see Orihime standing there, walking out with a small smile on her face.

"You too Orihime?" Ichigo murmured, glancing to a dark corner where she walked out from.

"Well I thought you could use some help," Orihime said with a smile, rubbing her hand behind her head in embarrassment.

"Temporal and Spatial control, minor, but still impressive," The King said, actually admiration in his tone.

Ichigo turned when he felt another presence approach, looking down at a black cat with oddly intelligent eyes. Also he was told something by the King that intrigued him. But considering the things he could conjure up made it almost impossible to be surprised anymore.

"You really are not paying much attention are you? Did you really think you would be going alone? While you were busy training, so were they, growing stronger just like you." Yoruichi said, looking at Ichigo intently as she gave him a little schooling. "You really need to learn to be more observant in the future boy, otherwise you will die."

Ichigo was silent for a moment, staring at the cat impassively for a moment and listening to King. He was surprised by the talking cat for sure, but from what he had just been told he guessed that it did make sense considering.

"Shape-shifting, a nice trick, too bad you only have that form," Ichigo replied, making the cats eyes widen slightly and the others to wonder what he was talking about, before Ichigo turned to the Shop Keeper and ask. "When can we depart?"

The Shop-Keepers eyes were calculating, he didn't really understand how Ichigo could have made that deduction so easily without prior knowledge or understanding of who Yoruichi is. But none the less he didn't pry; they were on the clock as it were.

"In a few minutes, we first need to go over some things." Urahara said, moving into his shop and letting everyone follow.

Ichigo found that having the King help him at times was actually very good; he never knew he could be so informative when he wanted to be. But still aside from the occasional belittling he wasn't all that bad; he gave him training and the skills needed. But he really needed to work on his bedside manners and learn not to be such a stuck up asshole.

* * *

**Hope you like it, review and tell me what you think.**


	3. Are we Alone Chapter 1

**Another Chapter and another new story, interesting this one. Made it up a few weeks ago and decided that I should make it.**

**This story was something I never really considered, but found to be very interesting to create. A Mass Effect and Bleach crossover. I thought of making it a story where both elements are combined, but then I thought, no. What about one element, and then have a few where the other element appears.**

**This story idea focuses solely on the Mass Effect universe and cast with bits and pieces with the Bleach cast appearing and doing their own thing. They appear randomly and almost without any true reason for their presence, making you wonder along with the Mass Effect cast who they are and why they are here. That is the point of the story, not only to combines these two universes, but actually put you in the shoes of the Mass Effect cast and wonder what is going on.**

**So, I hope you enjoy this.**

* * *

**Are we Alone?**

**Chapter 01: Gods walk among us.**

It was chaos everywhere; dozens of bodies littered the streets, while ruined buildings were the barriers that narrowed the perception that the entire city was just like that one street. Fires were consuming everything, no building or person was spared from the flames as they spread. This entire city was being destroyed, it had only begun an hour ago and already everything seemed to be over.

Illyria, the capital of this verdant planet, was under siege by an army. Hundreds of thousands of people were already dead and more would follow them. It was likely most would die at the hands of the pirates, and those that survived would suffer an even worse tragedy, slavery.

"Please don't hurt us!" The woman cried, holding her child close, keeping him out of sight of the slavers as they were gathering up people.

"Shut up!" One pirate shouted before kicking her down, he turned and fired a shot and killed a random man nearby, his head blowing apart like a ripe melon. "If you don't sit down, you're gonna end up like him, so shut up!"

Their cries died down to fearful whimpers, under the murderous eyes of their captors. Terminus pirates had raided the Human Colony of Elysium and were storming the capital by force. Thousands of them had descended onto the city and were securing it block by block, decimating everything in their path. Tanks moved through the streets crushing resistance, while Gunships would shoot down anything that thought it could leave by the skies.

The Alliance could do nothing to stop then from taking the city, for most of them had already been killed. The local military had been the first to be wiped out, destroyed by a quick strike by the pirates. The only ship in system was still in the atmosphere fighting valiantly, but it was outnumbered and alone.

The only remaining Alliance soldier's planet-side were so few that they could only defend those they had already gathered. Unable to do anything else but protect those they were with, leaving the majority of the population of Illyria to either die or be taken away.

"This one looks good," Fegan said, the leader of the small squad of mercs, grabbing a young woman by the hair and dragging her out to examine her.

"No please!" A man yelled, likely her father, but he was quickly kicked down and beaten into submission while the young woman wept for them to stop.

"Looks good, I could get a fair price for you," The Batarian said, moving her head side to side with his gun, finding some satisfaction as she wept under his inspection. "Oi, Marco, test this one out; see if she's worth anything."

"With pleasure," A human slaver, Marco his name was, moved over and grabbed the girl, dragged her through a blown out building and finding a comfortable spot to get to business.

She struggled to free herself, crying and screaming for him to let her go, but he dragged her along with a smirk on his face. As he reached a small comfy spot on the floor he tossed her down, letting her hit the floor hard. As she tried to rise he struck her with his pistol and forced back onto the floor.

"Listen, you need to fight harder, I hear that the Batarians like it better when they fight back," Marco said, working at his pants and smirking all the way.

She looked at him fearfully, her eyes locked onto his as she tried to back away. Marco smirked and looked on with satisfaction; this was actually getting him a hard-on. It was all the easier for him when he started.

But then he saw something, out of the corner of his eye, he quickly turned and raised his pistol. The last thing he noticed was some teenager grabbing his arm and snapping it, he let off a scream of agony as the remaining nerve impulses in his broken and nearly severed arm let the pistol go off.

* * *

"Come on we need to get these people back to the plaza, tell Marco to hurry up or we leave his ass here for the Alliance." Fegan growled out, the only reason he had humans in his squad was because his boss told him he had no choice.

Something about wanting all pirates in the Terminus under his banner and not just the ones that were not human. But still if that piece of shit didn't finish up quickly he would leave his sorry as behind, even if he told him to test out the product they were selling.

"Yeah, I'll call him," Rurik said, moving to get his buddy to finish up his festivities quickly, but stopped when a shot went off and scream was heard.

That would not worry them much, seeing as killing off their victims when they were done was something usually happened. But there two things that put them on guard, the first thing was the scream after the gunshot and the person screaming was Marco. It was silent for a few seconds, their guns aimed for the opening in the concrete wall that Marco had disappeared through when he took that girl with him.

"Marco!?" The slaver called, slowly walking forward and keeping his rifle up. "Are you…"

Something flew out of the hole, rushing past everyone and slamming right into the side of a ruined sky cap on the opposite side of the street. Everyone looked in shock before it turned to mortification as they saw the broken body of Marco embedded in the side of the car. His face was caved in and his arm looked to have been ripped off, only hanging on by a few tendons here and there.

"What the fuck!" Fegan exclaimed, backing away from the brutalised body. "What did this!?"

Rurik looked on shocked; he had fallen to the ground when he saw the body of his buddy fly out of the opening of the building. The way it was mauled scared him, he turned back to the hole to make sure nothing else came out, but instead he came face to face with someone.

Before Rurik could even comprehend who he was, something slammed into his side. He felt every rib crack and even his kidney burst, before he was catapulted across the street. He sailed through the air for a second or two before slamming into the side of a fallen wall. He slammed into it head first, his skull exploding on contact and then his body bouncing off it and dropping to the ground with an audible thud.

Everyone turned to see the man who had backhanded their buddy into a wall, and they were more perplexed by his appearance than his sudden act of superhuman strength. The guy looked like a teenager barely getting into adulthood.

He wore nothing but black and white, appearing as rags really; with how tattered and baggy it looked they would have thought he was a bum. But the fact he had brutally and mercilessly killed two of their guys, using his hands more than likely meant he was far from a normal human kid.

"Move and you're fucking…" Fegan started, before he was mercilessly cut down.

In an instant the teenager in rags had covered the distance, a good twenty feet, and impaled the man upon a small sword that looked like a trench knife. It had pierced the Batarian's heart and exited out his back, leaving him to cough up blood before he fell off the blade and onto his back dead.

Everyone could only gawk the scene that had transpired before then, so unreal that they couldn't even begin to understand how it transpired. One moment the kid was on one side of the street and now he was standing over the body of their squad leader. Killing him with a trench knife that he pulled out of nowhere, and now they could see that he actually had a massive blade on his back, nearly as big as he was.

They didn't have to be told what to do, this guy had killed their leader in a nanosecond and they were likely next. They weren't going to allow that to happen. They all raised their guns, pointing right at the young man and opened fire.

In the blink of an eye the unknown swordsman had drawn his larger blade and cut down the closest mercenary to him, splitting him in half from shoulder to groin. He leapt to the side and slashed at the second merc, cutting off his head with the trench knife before kicking the beheaded corpse into another and sending both their bodies crashing through a stone barrier nearby.

Then he turned and leapt at the next target, drawing both blades back and scowling as he advanced on them with impossible speed. It looked like he was gliding, moving so fast that he simply floated over the ground towards his next victim.

He moved fast as well, covering the ground between one target and the next in only half a second and killing three people in the remaining half before moving onto the next cluster. They fought desperately to kill him, but they couldn't even land a blow, he simply moved to fast for them to even get a read on where he was or going. There were twenty mercs left in that squad; after the death of their squad leader it took only six seconds to reduce that number to only half

The ones-sided slaughter continued on for another six seconds, until twenty two bodies littered the ground, in three times as many pieces. Standing in the middle of it all was the scowling yet stoic young man who had committed the act. Glaring at the final man who was shaking at he aimed his flimsy little pistol at the swordsman's head.

"Stay back!" The slaver screamed at him, sweating and shaking, he knew he was dead but he simply couldn't accept it, he desperately wanted to live. "I-I'll shot them!"

He tried to aim his pistol at the people they had caught, use them as a bargaining chip to get out of this. But in the time it takes you to blink the man with the swords was in front of him, his trench knife drawn back and ready to strike. With a yell of surprise the slaver raised his pistol and fired, striking the young teenager right in the forehead.

The relief the slaver felt was almost like having a good dose of Red Sand, until he noticed that there was no brain matter littering the ground. Instead you could only see the same scowl and a small grain of sand that sparkled in the dim light as it fell from his forehead leaving no mark or entry wound. The slaver dropped his weapon, either in panic or resignation he didn't know, but the man had shrugged off a point blank shot with his pistol like it was nothing. He didn't even blink when he fired.

"What the hell are you?" The slaver asked, horrified at the monster standing before him, but he was given no response.

His last moments was when he felt something pass through his chest, an odd cool sensation passed through him and he felt himself simply drift away into darkness.

* * *

Elanos Haliot watched the readouts from the city, everything was going very well. In fact it was going perfectly, just as he had planned. The Alliance was not fully present in this sector of space, meaning it was easy pickings while their fleets were busy fighting against pirates elsewhere. Also with the communications array being intercepted there was no way Elysium could contact them for help.

That meant the small military force present on the planet would be quickly overrun and then this place would be unprotected. This would be the biggest haul that they would take; it would make them all rich and make him the undisputed leader of every pirate band within the Terminus. He would rule it like a king, Omega had its queen, but she ruled on that station, he would rule every inch of space within the Terminus.

But first he needed to get that damn Alliance ship out of the way; it was starting to prove a problem. Also there seemed to be some resistance building among the populace, looks like all the Alliance weren't dead yet. That could easily be dealt with in time; after all, he had four thousand boys under his command. With Tanks and Gunships, it was just about how much overkill you needed to get the job done.

"Boss, pick up now!"

Elanos scowled at the communicator on his command dias, he recognised that Batarian calling. Captain Ikrervan, bastard was always yelling out at one thing or another. It drove Elanos mad, wonder what's got him shouting this time.

"What is it?" Elanos growled irritably.

"We need help, were under attack!" Ikrervan shouted, he sounded frantic, and the sound of a lot of gun fire could be heard over the comm, in fact it sounded as if it was starting to die off very quickly. "Why the hell won't he die!?"

"Ikrervan, what the hell is going on down there?" Elanos barked, wanting a status report, not some Batarian Pirate pissing himself in fear.

He sent him to round up survivors from a civilian bunker in the southern part of the city; there shouldn't be any form of resistance in that section of the city. In fact the Alliance barracks and space port was there, and anyone who was in there should all be dead. So who the hell were they fighting against?

"This guy! He fucking won't die, we keep shooting him and he won't die!" Ikrervan screamed over the comm, and the firing became scarce and sporadic, in fact it went silent as soon as the message ended. "No! Please don't!"

The sound of flesh and armour being torn apart was heard over the comm and for a moment Elanos didn't know how to react to that. He looked around the bridge, down at the people from the pedestal he stood upon to overlook his command. Each of them was concerned, likely because he looked the same.

"Get me Kherlak!" Elanos yelled, recomposing himself and getting everyone back to their posts.

* * *

Commander Kherlak Fon'noba leisurely watched as his small army advanced through the streets from the plaza of Illyria, the very heart of the city. It was here they planned on gathering every civilian still alive and ship them out to the Terminus, making a handsome profit for everyone.

This is where they had set up a remote command post and then spread out across the city, it was very easily actually. Illyria didn't have any anti-air defences in this area or anywhere in the city actually. So after they took out the spaceport all they had to do was land here, kill the person in charge of this colony and then move out and start pillaging. And it was going very well.

But Kherlak had heard that in the north his counterpart was having his ass handed to him by a few human soldiers, in fact he was actually dead. The rest of them were having trouble with this one little woman that was defending a bunker there.

But that could wait till he was done here, there was a lot to plunder and since the Alliance wouldn't be coming to help any times soon they could wait a little while. Who knows maybe they will get that woman and her buddied before he needs to go up there and save them.

"Kherlak!" Looking down the Batarian Commander lifted up his Omni-tool and listened to the irritating voice of that stuck up Turian he had to follow.

Seriously, Elanos Haliot was a bastard to work for, demanding and arrogant. He may not be any better but the Turian had some sort of complex where he thought he could become the king of the Terminus simply by raiding this place. It would get him a good profit but actually make him the ruler of all Terminus Space. He could raid Palavan, Thessia and Sur'Kesh and he still wouldn't get the crown.

"What?" Kherlak asked, his words but a simply drone of irritation and boredom.

"I am getting reports that your men are being attacked by something, what is your position from Captain Ikrervan?" Elanos demanded.

Kherlak looked surprise for a moment, his men were under attack, and he hadn't heard anything about it.

"Him? Uh… let me see… three clicks, he is in the industrial hub of the city, sent him there with fifty guys to clear the area." Kherlak replied, not really caring, if they were under attack her was sure he could handle it, besides he had seven other units in the area as well.

"According to a call I got from him he's dead, and all his men with him!" Elanos yelled, and then Kherlak looked at his Omni-tool in alarm.

"What? Impossible, there ain't anything left here that can fight back." Kherlak said, disbelieving that one of his guys was dead, let alone an entire platoon. "Here let me… What the fuck?"

Kherlak looked on, along with nearly five hundred other pirates as a single human stood at the intersection of a street off to the south. He wore a deep scowl on his face as he walked forward with purpose. Despite the threatening advance they could only gawk at the fact he wasn't armed with a rifle, but two swords.

"You got to be fucking kidding me," Kherlak said, actually looking amused for once in his miserable life.

"What is it? Report damn it!" Elanos yelled, but he was swiftly hung up on and Kherlak looked at the boy with a cruel smirk on his lips, leaning onto the hood of the tank and propping his head onto his fist he watched the boy walk forward.

"Never thought I would see something so funny that I am almost tempted not to shoot this kid," Kherlak said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Hey give him a good death; like in those crappy vids those humans always talk about."

A Krogan and Turian walked to either side of the spikey haired teenager, both aiming their respective weapons at his head. The young man stopped as they took aim, but never took his eyes off the Batarian in the tank. Kherlak saw this and smirked all the more smugly, gesturing him to even come over and get him.

"You got balls human, but that ain't shit when you can't even make a move when we got these two guns on your head." The Krogan said, tightening the hold on his shotgun.

"What do you expect; dumb kid probably thought he could kill us with swords, humans, so stupid." The Turian replied, his pistol pressed against the boy's temple.

"Say goodbye human," The Krogan stated, those were his final words to the orange haired youth.

What happened next was so fast that no one even registered what happened until the saw that the blades that were once at the boy's side were now above the bisected duo. Everyone watched in muted shock as the boy in a split second had killed both the Krogan and Turian. Their bodies falling away, the former having his torso and face split open and the latter cut in two.

The next moment he was no longer there, running forward so fast that it defied how fast a normal human was capable on foot. He went from zero to two hundred as soon as he took the first step, and was already cutting a path through dozens of pirates and mercenaries as he went straight for Kherlak.

"Turn the tank! Turn the tank!" Kherlak roared to the driver, slamming his fist on the top of the tank, telling him to turn and fire on the kid that was still carving through his man. Already halfway to the scared shitless Batarian, and only a few second away from being right on top of him.

As the tank turned fully the aim at the swordsman, the gun went off but never met its mark. He simply disappeared with a quiet swish, leaving behind a small cloud of dust to show where he once stood. Before Kherlak could figure out how he pulled that off, he saw a shadow above him.

Looking up the Batarian commander saw something moving right for him, before he could discover what he collided with his face and gave a new meaning to the word 'whiplash'. The next thing that was heard was a loud snapping sound as his head shot back, his neck breaking and then hanging like a wet noddle on his shoulders.

Everyone watched as the man that had killed their commander vault off his head and do several flips through the air and finally land several meters behind the tank. Landing perfectly and straightening himself up like an acrobat, the same scowl on his face as he gazed at everyone around him. Showing them that he was far from over and was planning on doing to them what he did to Kherlak.

"Fucking shoot!" Someone yelled out, the only thing they could do to survive, not that it could save them.

* * *

"What the hell is going on down there!?" Elanos demanded, he had been scattered radio traffic all over the place.

It would seem that woman he had thought would not be a problem was actually holding her own against an entire company of Mercs. In fact she has inflicted more casualties the entirety of the Alliance that was once on this planet when they first attacked. How that was possible simply eluded the Turian, there was no way she could be that good or have a good position to cause so much damage.

But now, now he was getting scattered reports that came in from other squads that were dying out. Something had killed almost every single platoon and squad in the southern part of the city; that was several hundred men. What the hell was going on down there?

"Sir, the main group is under attack!" One of his subordinated called out.

"What?" Elanos asked, the Turian's voice low and barely considered a question but a growl of fury.

"I don't know exactly but their under attack… by something…" the officer answered.

"Get a feed down there!" Elanos roared, and soon enough he had several screens up and showing off the battle.

He felt his blood go cold when he watched it, a battle it wasn't, this was a slaughter. Battles were between two opposing forces; this wasn't that, it was a massacre, because his men were being decimated.

Hundreds of bodies littered the massive square in the centre of the city, nearby streets were also clogged with the dead. The few hundred or so survivors were still firing at what had killed them all, but it did little good. For whatever they faced did not suffer under the barrage of bullets, nor did it care for the biotics that tried to repel or hinder it, even the few tanks could not stand against its awesome power.

Helmet cams showed the battle from the soldier's perspective, one by one they went dark as their operators were killed. Each second someone died, brutally, savagely, mercilessly. They saw him, the single person doing the killing. Everyone watched in muted horror as a single teenage boy moved through the battlefield with speed that defied anything remotely possible for a normal being of flesh and blood.

Carving through people, tanks and APC's like they were nothing but wheat to the farmers scythe. He was actually carving them apart with two swords, actually decimating their entire army with nothing but a large butcher's blade and a short sword. It was surreal and impossible to wrap their heads around; he was going this and shrugging off small arms fire.

From the looks of it, he didn't even have any shields or barriers up, nor did he have armour. He wore some black and white rags that hung loosely on his body, looked like leather or silk. Yet he still was shrugging off the collective fire of over a hundred guns like it was nothing but light rain on a cloudy day.

"Sir… what do we do?" Someone asked, Elanos didn't reply at first, simply staring into the still image of a helmet cam of one of the dead, seeing the scowl and piercing gaze made him freeze.

Those eyes terrified him, something about them made a shiver go up his spine and almost shake in fright. Those were the eyes of someone who saw the people he was killing as nothing, he did not despise them, and he simply did not see them as worthy of existing. It was as if he was looking down at an insignificant mortal.

"Get the dropships down there, send everyone we got, get the damn Gunships, get everything on that thing!" Elanos yelled, watching as the hundred or so quickly go down to a few dozen, and even then they likely would all be dead before they arrived.

* * *

"Alright, approaching Illyria main square," The dropship pilot said, he along with ten others were offloading all their troops in the square, with about twenty Mantis Gunships as escorts. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" The platoon captain barked, not liking surprises nor the fact that the pilot looked scared for a moment.

"Uhhh, give me a minute," The Pilot said, brushing off the platoon leaders question. "Hey boss, listen I think landing there may be a bad idea… well because all I see on the ground is bodies, and all of them are our guys… you can't be serious, a pair of swords?... Damn it."

"Well?" The Krogan captain yelled.

"You guys are all fucked," The pilot replied, deciding to hide the fact that over five hundred of their boys were all dead. By the personal accounts of Haliot, by one guy who used a pair of swords, meaning the three hundred they were dropping off now were screwed no matter what.

"What the hell does that…?" The Krogan couldn't finish before the ship exploded, engulfed in a bright fireball that reduced it to nothing but scrap metal.

* * *

"Shit, we lost a dropship! Do they have anti-air guns?" A Mantis pilot yelled out.

"Mantis-13, above you!" Another Mantis pilot called out over the comms.

When the pilot of Mantis-13 looked up, his eyes widened shock as someone was standing there right above his cockpit, two swords in hand and scowling. He was looking right at him, for some reason Mantis-13 realised he was a dead man.

"How the hell did he get on me!?" Mantis-13 yelled.

"Don't move, I'll take him…" Before Mantis-07 could finish his statement or fire his mass-accelerator machine gun, the gunship was sliced in half by a wave of blue energy that also tore through the side of the building beyond it.

"Shit! Is this kid a biotic or something!?" Mantis -03 yelled, before his ship suffered a similar fate and promptly exploded after having his left wing and tail end of the gunship severed by a vertical wave of energy.

Then they watched as he turned and walked along the top of the Gunship and sever both its wings, cutting off its only means of flight. Mantis-13 fell from the air, its pilot screaming before becoming silent as the craft crashed into the ground and was engulfed in a massive fireball.

Everyone had expected that the guy would fall with the Mantis, but instead they all watched as he defied the laws of physics by simply standing on thin air. The man's glared hard as he looked at the different gunships that hovered around him.

"What the fuck that's impossible!" Mantis-08 yelled, aiming his Precision Kill Rockets on the flying man, who remained fixed on his position.

Then he disappeared, a second later a gunship exploded in a brilliant display as its entire frame disintegrated into chunks of hot metal. From the plume of fire and smoke appeared the man, gliding to the next gunship and severing it in half with a single slash of his massive sword.

The fifteen remaining gunships turned to try and take out the attacker, but again he vanished from sight and reappeared behind Mantis-02. Stabbing his smaller blade through the tail of the gunship, then forcefully pulling the massive vehicle around, despite having almost no leverage he pulled it off, and smashed it into the side of another gunship. Both broke apart and fell to the streets below, crashing and exploded as they met asphalt.

A rocket sailed towards the man, striking him in the back and engulfing him a fiery cloud. A cry of satisfaction was heard from a pilot, before it turned to a shout of fear as an arc of energy shot from the cloud and consumed his gunship. Appearing from the cloud was the man, completely unharmed and casually walking forward as if there was nothing beneath his feet other than solid ground.

"By the spirits, we're all going to die!" His last words as a blade pierce the cockpit and ran through his heart.

* * *

"Get to the ground now!" The dropship pilot shouted, leaving the chair himself to get out, knowing he likely would be dropped like the gunships were being if he even tried to flee. As soon as the soldiers exited their craft they came upon the site of the massacre, finding the brutalised bodies of every other pirate that was part of their little army.

"What did this!?"

"Fucking hell, this ain't right,"

"Spirits, this shouldn't be happening, this should have been easy."

Everyone who exited the craft immediately stepped upon the plaza that was littered with the bodies of hundreds of dead pirates, merc and slavers. Cut apart in hundreds of different ways, not a single one had something not missing, an arms, a leg, their upper torso. Whatever had killed them had done so brutally and without a single shred of pity. They were likely next when he got back.

"Fuck this! I'm out of here!" Someone yelled, only to be gunned down by one of his own.

"No! We are not leaving, we are not letting some shit get the better of us, we kill him and we win this. So man the fuck up and kill…" The man yelled, bringing everyone to heel, but was halted when an explosion went off behind him.

A burning gunship crashed into the dropship a few meters behind the man, a shred of metal impaling the Batarian from behind and sending him flying forward. Everyone turned and looked to see not a single gunship was still present; the few remaining dropships still trying to escape were quickly shot down by eaves of condensed blue energy. Leaving no room for escape, they were trapped there.

Then he came, like and angel of death, he descended from above.

He moved like a missile towards the pirates, slamming feet first into closest man and using him as a board to surf across the ground and slash at anyone he passed. Before he flipped off the corpse he was riding and kicking it right towards a group of mercs, sending them all sprawling like bowling pins. Everyone had no choice but to raise their weapons and fight now, he was going to kill them and they had no choice but to fight and try to survive.

"Open fire!"

* * *

Elanos watched the battle from the surveillance cameras, there was no way he could rationalise what was happening.

They were all dead, all his men were dead. Every single soldier he had sent planet side was dead. All because of that one man, that boy, that in-human boy. He looked to see that the Alliance vessel had actually started inflicting severe damage upon his fleet.

Seventy percent, he lost fifty ships to just one, only twenty were left. There was no point in this anymore, it was over, the Blitz had been broken. He slumped forward, the feeling of defeat so painful that he actually felt his heart ache. His dream had been destroyed, and not because of some resistance or lucky break. But because of some in-human monster that had come from no-where and destroyed his entire army.

"Get the ships together, we are leaving," Elanos Haliot said, barely audible to the crewmen still working.

With that he took his ships to FTL, escaping from the planet that had withstood the Blitz and brought a blow that would be felt to all people in the Terminus for generations to come.

* * *

Shepard groaned as she held onto her wounded side, pulling her hand away for a moment to see the pooling blood in her palm and a small stream of it leaking from the wound. She shook her head and chided herself; she should have known not to have stayed out of cover for too long. Her shield generator was busted, she should have known better than that. With a groan she tried to sit more comfortably on the piece of stone she had used as cover to fight off those Batarian bastards.

'Guess this is it then,' Shepard thought to herself, she had a good run and did pretty well considering.

She organised a resistance and actually was doing well from the beginning, actually got a few people out of the city and to the bunkers. But still in the scope of things she didn't get everyone out, and they would likely be sold off into slavery.

But at least the couple thousand that were bunkered down in the building down the street were safe; there was no way anyone was going to get to them now. For that she was at least content that her death made sure others wouldn't suffer something worse. All she had to do was wait for reinforcements to come, pick up her body and then keep the bunker defended and everything would be alright.

She heard footsteps coming her way, the stone and dirt shifting and scrunching under hard footfalls. Shepard closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, tightening the hold on her pistol and waited. Raising her weapon up and planning on finishing off anyone who thought she was dead and no longer a threat. Even with a punctured kidney she wasn't going to go down so easy.

She saw a shadow pass around the corner and tightened her hold on the trigger, ignoring her arm's strain to even lift the weapon in the first place. It had been a hard fight and she had taken a lot of those bastards out, and as long as she could get off at least one more shot she would be content with that.

As the one coming her way rounded the side of the fallen piece of concrete she aimed for his head, planning and getting in a shot. She did not shoot however, halting when she saw a young man standing there, seventeen if she could guess, tall, slightly pale. Covering in dark robes of black with a few piece of white, tattered and baggy, and looking as if he was from a different era.

In fact he had two large sheathes that held swords, one he carried on his right hip and another on his back. The main things that caught her eye were the bright orange hair he had, scruffy and long. Almost covering his eyes and moving down to his neck. He stopped just beside her and then glanced down at her, a scowl was etched into his face, but it wasn't angry or hostile.

It was simply there, as if it was as a part of his appearance as his piercing eyes. Deep brown and despite the fierce scowl on his brow she could see the care in them, someone who was both strong and caring. She always had a way with gauging people, and in her training she learned just how to measure a person's character through their appearance and expressions alone.

Shepard held his gaze for several seconds, waiting to see what he was going to do. She tensed when he turned towards her and stepped forward, and she scowled in concentration as she fought to at least keep the gun aimed at his head. But alas she failed to do so, her arm shaking to even keep the gun raised let alone keeping her aim true.

He kneeled next to her, looking her up and down and his gaze fell onto her wound on high left hip. His gaze softened and he looked up at her, no longer scowling but offering some form of comfort with showing worry over her.

"It's okay, it will be alright," He said, giving a small smile, placing his hand on her gun and making her lower it.

He grasped her hand gently and moved it away from the wound, she felt pain shoot through her like electricity and make her entire body spasm as he laid his own hand on the wound. He closed his eyes and Shepard felt the pain slowly subside and disappear, slowly by surely she felt everything fade to a blissful state of euphoria.

Shepard looked down at her side numbly, her head handing there and gazing at the bloody but healed waistline where a bullet had punctured. If she was not so tired from the constant fighting and the severe amount of blood loss she would have asked how he did that. But instead she looked up at him, seeing that smiling face and assurance she was safe was enough for her. And for some reason she couldn't say that she did not feel like she was as safe as she ever would from this point onward.

With those last thoughts she closed her eyes and let unconsciousness take her, letting the smiling face of that young man who had saved her be the last thing on her mind.

* * *

"Lieutenant? Can you hear me?"

Shepard felt her bleary eyes open as she heard the voice call, her head was pounding and she felt incredibly stiff. As she sat up she felt something press her down, and as she opened her eyes she saw the face of a medical officer looming over her.

"Where am I?" Shepard wheezed out, her throat dry and sore.

"Arcturus Station, you were found unconscious near a civilian shelter in Illyria on Elysium," The doctor said soothingly, placating the woman who had just woken up. "You may feel a little weak, you suffered from severe blood loss, but you didn't have any serious wounds, despite this we were able to stabilize you."

Shepard looked around, finding the clean crisp dull grey medical ward of the station. Despite being a bland colour it was clean and shining, and had a very strong stale air about it. Letting her head drop back onto the table she tried to ignore the pain in her body and keep awake, but she could barely keep her eyes open for more than a second or two.

"So tired…" Shepard said, slowly drifting off back to sleep.

* * *

"How are you feeling Shepard?"

"Fine sir," Shepard replied, standing in front of her superior officer with her hands behind her back.

It had been a month since the raid on Elysium, something that had been dubbed as the Skyllian Blitz, one of the largest Pirate raids on a human colony to date. It was one that would go down in history as the biggest battle the Alliance had ever undertaken in their campaign to stop Piracy within the Verge.

But she was hearing a lot that there were a lot of dead mercs and pirates found on the surface, in fact the entire population had to be evacuated to clean up the mess. Sounded pretty badly, some people were even muttering about some demon in black that carved everyone apart.

"It has come to my attention that you personally held off a Pirate platoon single-handedly, and inflicted one hundred percent casualties on them while defending a civilian bunker." Anderson inquired, looking over the top of the report to the one who had made it.

"Yes sir, I took up position near a fallen building and kept the pirates at bay until reinforcements arrived." Shepard replied.

"Yes, I have to admit Shepard that this is impressive, you held out against an entire platoon of soldiers and came out with nary a scratch," Anderson said, looking over the report again. "Except you said you were struck in the side, and had a punctured kidney, although your medical report says otherwise."

"That was stated in the report sir, someone saved me," Shepard replied crisply, she also had been searching for the man who had saved her; thank him for doing that, maybe by him a round.

"Yes, some unknown individual that wore robes and had two swords, I think you may have just imagined this Shepard," Anderson brushed off, and for a moment she was left surprised with the dismissal of something so crucial.

The way he calmly and blatantly dismissed the claim was surprising, but even more so that he did it in such a manner was something she never expected from the venerable Captain. She had worked with Captain Anderson for nearly two years now and had a good idea on his character, actually seeing him being so dismissive of this seemed odd.

Odd because she didn't know anything that would warrant him to actually not care about some wondering man who carried swords around. That was strange yes, but the way the Captain quickly tried to move that person out of the picture seemed odd, even calling him a hallucination seemed a little put on in her opinion.

"Sir, I wasn't imagining anything, I was wounded and bleeding out, he saved me by sealing the wound," Shepard pressed, wanting to get the point across that she knew what happened and the report is correct, but also why he wanted to go with this.

"The medical report says otherwise, I think you should reword the file and submit it for archiving, after you pass it through me next of course." Anderson said, the subtle hint in his tone to just do as he said was there.

Shepard was not one to falsify a report, even though this seemed a little less crucial considering he just saved her life. But the fact that doing so would erase any evidence she knew about this man made her wonder what the Captain was trying to hide.

"Sir, is that an order?"

"Do I have to make it so, Lieutenant?" Anderson inquired, and as they both gauged each other Shepard knew that maybe there was more to that kid than she last though.

"No sir, I will get it done."

"Good, now onto the second set of business," Anderson said, leaning back into his chair. "Tell me, have you ever considered attending the N7 Program?"

* * *

"Do we know what it is?" Admiral Steven Hackett inquired; he looked around to the seven other commanders around the holographic display, each one the commander and chief of their respective fleets within the Alliance Navy.

Each of them had come here because of a very disturbing discovery during the battle for Elysium. When the sixth fleet arrived to support the planet and provide reinforcements they discovered that it had been deserted. The Pirate ships had left only hours after the attack and took no prisoners and what remaining Alliance soldiers, barely three dozen, had regained control of the planet.

But not because they fought them off, because something else did, and killed close to three thousand four hundred pirates in the process.

"No, whatever this thing is, it looks human but it is not human." Ines Lindholm answered, the Commander of the First Fleet and currently the Head of the Alliance Navy. "It killed over three thousand Slavers and Pirates on the planet, we can't even get a correct number because not a single one of them was in one piece to get a proper head count."

That was true; most of the bodies had been cut to ribbons. They couldn't even identify any form of blade capable of doing such a thing nor could they find any traces of metal that may have made up the blade.

"This is big; some random kid shows up and massacres an entire army of Pirates with nothing but swords, what does that say?" Kastanie Drescher asked, the commanding officer of the Second Fleet, everyone knew where she was going with this.

"That he is an experiment made by the Alliance I guess, but for once I have to ask, is it true?" Mariah Heighton inquired, Fourth Fleet Admiral and Commander, the possibility that he could be the case made them all wonder what could have been done to make something like that.

"We don't know, but based on the images we have here, there is almost nothing he cannot do." Admiral Hackett replied, looking at the many images that played out before them all.

They watched through the many different camera shots that depicted the events on Elysium. Watching the very person they had gather to discuss upon slaughter his way through the city, killing anyone in his path with precision and power that defied anything they had witnessed before.

This had been nearly impossible to suppress, keeping information like this hidden would be nearly impossible. But if they kept physical evidence away from anyone it could help, if they kept this all retained to themselves then no one would know. All they had to do was let any rumours and hearsay die down, and then they could investigate without the risk of some conspirator theorist coming around and digging into this.

"He was shrugging off bullets, even cannon fire, what the hell is this thing?" Urakov Denisovich asked, Commander of the Sixth Fleet, pointing at the image while looking at the closest Admiral beside him.

It was true, heavy arms fire from tanks and soldiers did nothing to him, in fact he didn't even flinch when he was hit. He even took a carnage shot to the face without even blinking before cutting the one who shot him in half.

"It can't be human, it definitely can't be human, augmentation has its limits, but this is simply impossible," Jaro Saban said, watching surveillance camera's that showed him seemingly teleporting around the battlefield and cutting apart dozens of people in seconds. Even showing off his duel with several Mantis Gunships, blowing them up and destroying them with simple slashes of his sword.

"Wait, pause there," Nitesh Singh ordered, before stepping forward and manipulating the terminal. Moving in closer of the swordsman and watching the events play out slowly. "There, look at the sword."

They watched as the sword pulsed with a blue light and appeared to be surrounded by a powerful biotic field. He then slashed his sword forward and towards a Gunship, cutting it in half and even exploding on contact.

"Biotics?" Ines inquired, it was likely, biotic fields could do thing similar.

"No, there isn't any distortion to show that there was a dark energy formation along the blade, also there is no way something that small could generate a wave of biotic energy that could carve through a ship like that." Nitesh said, looking over the images, before turning his head and watching as the man appear to shout something as he swung.

Manipulating the keys on the terminal again he adjusted the audio, before removing several other components. Sadly sound was impossible to pick up but he could through analysis get something out.

"He said something, I can't hear it but through analysis we can probably determine what he says through the way he says it." Nitesh said, and after a little work they got something.

"Getsuga Tenshou," The terminals on board VI stated.

"What language is that?" Urakov asked.

"Japanese, specifically Tōkai–Tōsan, through analysis the text means 'Moon Fang, Heaven Piercer'." Nitesh said, reading the readout on the data.

"As of now this incident has been classified, we are to begin investigating who this man is, where comes from and exactly what he is." Hackett said, looking at everyone. "We need to find him and figure out what he wants and why he was on Elysium."

"Rules of engagement?" Urakov asked, everyone knew what he was asking, but they all needed to know if they should consider him a threat or not.

"I don't think I need to tell you," Hackett said, watching as the boy raised his sword and sent a wave of energy towards a Batarian Frigate, cutting it right in half and letting it fall towards the ground before exploding. "If he is found, try to bring him in peacefully, if not, let him leave and do not attempt to detain him."

Everyone was in agreement, they would figure out what this guy was and where he came from. The sooner the better, if the Council got word of a human that decimated the entire raiding force of the Skyllian Blitz then they would be throwing things around. Like Augmentation, genetic engineering and anything else they could just to make their lives hell.

They just hoped that nothing else turned up while they were fighting off these pirates.

* * *

**This story really connected to me, and I think I will make another few chapters with this just like Frostmourne, but for now review and tell me what you think of this starter chapter.**


	4. Are we Alone Chapter 2

**I am really being generous today, three chapters. I think this story really should become a major story, but for now it is just something I do in my spare time. I like it. Hope you do to.**

* * *

**Are we Alone**

**Chapter 02: The Butcher of Torfan**

**Arcturus Station: October 23****rd**** 2177, Current Time: 1745 Hours.**

Hackett sighed as he looked over the report; it would seem that they were not thorough enough on getting the Council to give them the go ahead in moving into assaulting the criminal base that had been located on the moon of Torfan.

The reason they had been delayed for nearly eight months was simply because they wanted answers for Elysium. Specifically, the massacre of Elysium. It was hard to deny what had been the end result of the battle there, three thousand eight hundred corpses of pirates. Surprised they didn't mention the eighty five thousand dead men, woman and children.

But still he could understand their reasoning to a point, considering that every merc had been brutally torn apart and cut down rather than shot. With no evidence to say who had done it, sadly they couldn't say it was their own soldiers. Because there were barely thirty still on the planet and they would never resort to such savage means of dispatching an enemy soldier. Also, the fact that there were no bodies around would have made it impossible to explain.

But the only saving grace was that they had kept the boy from being discovered, no evidence remained of the incident. He was completely erased and only a select few knew of his existence, but none knew where he was. Through all their efforts he had remained completely hidden from the galactic community.

Close to a year and a half and they had no even scratched the surface of what he is, no facial recognition, not even a spec of DNA to match him to anything. It was impossible to figure out who the kid was, or what he was.

'In time, give it time and we may just learn.' Hackett thought to himself, looking over the report, he had sent a team to Akuze several weeks ago; they had come back and discovered something that gave him pause.

They may have found another one.

* * *

**Akuze: September 12****th**** 2177, Current time: 1645 (Planet Daily Rotation: 19 Hours)**

Commander Gerald Warwick walked his men through the foliage; they had landed nearly an hour ago and were on route to the settlement. It had been three weeks since they had lost contact with the colony, only now had they actually gotten authorization in getting to investigate. He had fifty men with him, all outfitted for anything.

After the incident on Elysium the Alliance had started packing heavy, the risk of potential raid on more colonies near the borders of their space was too high. They had to be ready for anything, but what they found was something they could not explain.

As they entered the last mile to the settlement they registered a massive temperature drop in the area, in fact, it was snowing. Looking over their scanners they found that it was close to -25oC. That was incredibly impossible considering that the planets main temperature was meant to be in the high twenties.

"Sir? This classified as a Level One Hazard, should we continue, we aren't exactly fitted out for this," Corporal Toombs asked, looking nervous about proceeding.

"We keep going, we need to figure out what caused the loss of communications and also where this came from," Warwick said, moving forward, and his small platoon following close behind.

For the next hour they moved, their armor providing some protection to the elements but still making it impossible to block out the cold. The only thing that helped was that the cold seemed to be in the process of receding, yet oddly he was told it was melting at a very slow rate. Didn't bother to ask why, he was still shivering and didn't want to bother with a lengthy explanation why ice didn't melt when it should.

But what he did want an explanation on was when he entered the settlement, he was seeing what he was seeing right now.

The settlement was mostly intact; in fact it looked perfectly fine, aside from the snow that was covering most of it. But what really caught his eyes were the massive snaking blocks of ice that were all over the place. On closer inspection they realized that it wasn't just massive blocks of ice, no they were frozen bodies. Frozen bodies of twenty Thrasher Maws.

Everyone was on guard, seeing the bodies of twenty Thrasher Maws around you would put anyone on edge. But the fact there were twenty of them, all frozen in place and some appearing to be missing several pieces of the massive worms only made the marines more nervous. Something had to have done this, flash freezing the entire area; it was like some kind of bomb went off here.

"Search the area!"

Hackett read on through the report, according to the data the entire colony was deserted and no bodies were recovered. But they did find one thing there, a small outpost a click from the colony, with three bodies inside. All dead from exposure, and with a lot of monitoring equipment, all focused solely on the settlement.

All data was brought back and analyzed, and as soon as the cause of the incident was noted all data was confiscated and the marines were forced to take an oath of silence and make false reports. After what had just witnessed he could not allow anyone else to see it, not after what that girl was capable of. First the boy that decimated an army of pirates, now a girl who looked fourteen had just shifted the entire ecosystem of a planet with a single swing of her sword. Something was not right here.

But sadly he had more problems to deal with, he had to plan the offensive with Torfan, and that would take time. Not because he needed to gather his forces, but because in the time it took the Council to hear them out and continue to do so now, it was allowing the Batarian's to fortify their defenses.

Meaning that this battle would likely lead to massive casualties on their side, he just hoped that with more careful planning he can save more lives.

* * *

**Torfon Orbit, March 18****th**** 2178, Current Time: 0924 Hours.**

It was all underway, the attack had begun and they were moving in for the kill. The Batarian's had fortified their bunkers to the point where they were fortresses, and their outer defenses were more impenetrable than the Citadel. Also they seemed to have brought on some help, mercs and 'ex-Hegemony' soldiers.

Another thing that was noticed was that they now had air defenses, something that would make this even more problematic. Without air support or dropping the troops off close to the fortification then getting the men there would be a dangerous and costly affair.

"Prepare the men for deployment, it's time we dropped the anvil on these bastards." Hackett called over the bridge, moving to his terminal and punching in a few commands. "Admiral Singh, prepare your forces, have them deploy when the anti-air guns are disabled."

"Don't worry Steven, I will get it done," Nitesh said, logging off and moving back to the view port, seeing the grey and almost lifeless surface of Torfan the aged Admiral sighed, this was going to be a bloody and costly affair.

* * *

**Torfen Surface, March 18****th**** 2178, Current Time: 1142 Hours.**

It was pure hell, fighting inch by inch over the craggy and uneven ground across the barren fields towards the Stronghold. Over one thousand Alliance marines had been deployed to assault the fortress' south-east section, aiming to take out its artillery battery so reinforcements can land.

But that was proving to be difficult, as the batarian's had set up some heavy weapons to keep them from moving more than an inch or above three feet from the ground unless you wanted to be shredded. Mortars and heavy machines guns and sniper perches were all over the place, making it impossible to move through the area safely.

They had taken serious losses already taking the ground they had, two hundred had been seriously wounded and about half as many were dead.

Sniper fire rained down over them, along with thousands of rounds of mass-accelerated machine gun rounds. There was a one in four chance you wouldn't get hit, and a one in three chance it wouldn't be fatal. So there was little return fire at the moment, between the overwhelming gunfire and mounting wounded, standing up to get shot ain't a top priority.

"Colonel, we have a position where you can flank them and secure a choke point for your force to move in," The radio crackled, signalling to the commanding officer in charge of the army group.

"Marines, follow me!" Colonel Hannibal Grimsley ordered, having his men move around through cover and towards the closest over crop that sat close to a machine gun nest. If they could take that they would have an opening to get inside.

"Alright, we need to hit that gun perch, take that and we have a way in and can start taking out these bastards," Hannibal said over the comms, he looked to see the scared face of his men, he knew exactly why.

The only way to that gun perch was a twenty meter open area that gave no cover and left them completely open to enemy fire and the perch they were assaulting. More than likely most of them were going to die, and if the worse came all of them would die. Yet he knew he had to do this, if they didn't, more than just they would die.

"Form up! Wide formation, heavy's in front and weapons free and shoot anything you see!" Colonel Hannibal ordered, taking his shotgun off his lower back and pumping it for good measure.

Without another word he leaped from cover, his men following him without a battle cry or shout of protest. They knew it had to be done, and cowering would only lead to shame and death for everyone there. They made the first five meters before the first man fell, his torso riddled with holes and smeared with blood, half a second later three more joined him.

They kept running and more kept falling, bullets went flying in both directions, scoring kills on one side or the others. The Alliance took it the hardest; there were already fifty marines dead before they eventually reached the nest. Only three Batarians remained, three others were killed in the charge, small considering how many were lost.

All three were quickly gunned down by collective gun fire from the marines as they entered the nest, and taking it for themselves. But even inside they were still in danger, two more marines fell to the ground, heads blow off by snipers from further towards the fortress. The marines took cover and started reaping their own justice, sniper to sniper and machine gun to machine gun.

Slowly but surely they were turning the tide, but it was not without its cost.

"Sir, what are your orders?" One corporal asked, his question directed to Major Kyle, the current commander.

When the nest was taken they had lost Colonel Hannibal, he died in the charge and was still laying down there with several holes in his chest and one in his forehead. In the last ten minutes there had been three other commanders, two were still in the crevices under fire from the mortars and machines guns and had died within three minutes of each other. Now, Major Kyle was in charge, the current ranking officer in charge.

"Keep firing, take out the nests, the more openings we make the more our men can fight back!" Kyle yelled, ducking down as a sniper round nearly took his head off, thankfully bouncing off his kinetic barriers.

"Major Kyle, what is your status?" Admiral Hackett called over the comm, it was obvious that the fighting was starting to get fierce, and if they failed so did this operation.

"We are making headway sir, but we have lost a lot of men, nearly half, and more are wounded, we need…" Kyle started, but was cut off.

"What is your status?" Admiral Hackett called again, wanting a report and not a relay of what was wrong.

"We have secured a part of the frontal defenses, were dismantling the rest now, we will be moving onto the anti-air tower soon sir," Kyle replied, keeping himself professional after being brought back by the Admiral.

"Keep it up, Hackett out,"

For the next half an hour they fought, slowly taking out the machine gun nests and allowing them Marines a path through their defences. Contending with sniper fire and mortar rounds, but they were making progress. A little longer and they could take out the artillery tower and finally begin the main assault on the bunker.

Most of the nests that had been taken had been used to keep the wounded; over half of the marines had to be kept there because they were injured in some capacity. But they still had two hundred still able to continue and finally get to the AA-guns. But it was getting more complicated; the pirates were abandoning their others posts and coming straight for them.

Their position had been surrounded as they attempted to make for the AA-gun and finally get them offline so reinforcements could start dropping. Now they were bunkered down and holding out as more mercs and pirates descended on them from every direction.

"We need reinforcements!" Major Kyle screamed over the comm, hoping to get some men from the nests to offer assistance, but so far from the bunker it would impossible, they would need to come themselves.

"Negative Major!" Someone replied over the line. "Enemy forces inbound, unable to assist!"

The Major cursed, this was a mistake, and there was no way they could have taken this fortress without air support or reinforcements. They were all going to die on this moon and they likely were never going to get buried. This was going to be where they all die.

But then something happened, everyone felt something push down on their shoulders and for a single instant they felt as if death itself had just walked over their graves.

* * *

Hackett felt his chest tighten slightly, a horrible feeling passing through him. He looked over the bridge and saw that everyone else was hunched over slightly, as if their hearts were aching. Meaning he wasn't the only one to suffer.

"What was that?" Hackett called over the bridge, looking for an answer.

"Sir… I… I don't know, it was some kind of… matter displacement field or something…" One officer said, looking over his terminal and shaking his head in confusion and worry.

"Come again lieutenant?" Hackett inquired, moving with purpose over to the boy.

"I have no idea sir! These readings make no sense, I am detecting a massive fluctuation of unknown particles in the atmosphere yet they aren't being registered on our scanners." The officer replied, not understanding it, he could detect the strange displacements of energy in the atmosphere because of how the matter on the ground was reacting, in fact it was so huge that even oxygen and matter were being propelled away from it.

"What the hell is down there?" Hackett ordered.

"I don't know sir; it just appeared out of nowhere."

Hackett looked over the scanned and could only guess what he was seeing, showing that the actual matter and atmosphere was being replaced with another foreign force. As what they were currently seeing was the area spanning several miles was being pushed away from something.

"Where is it?"

"South-East of the bunker sir," The officer replied.

* * *

Major Kyle could barely breathe; he took in shallow and pained breaths. Every single bone in his body felt like it was on fire, and being crushed under something. He looked around to see some of his marines had passed out and those that hadn't were on their hands and knees. Was this some kind of weapon?

But with what strength he had he looked over to the pirates, they were also affected, by whatever this was. In fact he could barely keep his eyes from closing, or keeping the darkness around the edge of his eyes from taking him completely. What the hell was going on?

In a single instant it stopped, the pressure disappeared and the Major took in a deep breath. He fell to a knee and tried to regain control over his motor functions, and failed. He fell onto his back and stared up at the sky unable to lift himself up properly.

For a few minutes no one fired a shot, still reeling from what just happened. Then they felt it again, it was more subtle this time, but none the less it was there. The overwhelming feeling of dread as something monstrous was looking down at you.

Everyone was on edge, the feeling of imminent death looming over them all.

"Fucking worthless bunch you are,"

Everyone turned, the voice catching everyone in the vicinity, and everyone's gaze landed on a man in black robes with a white cloak. He had long black hair that hang down his back, with a small black eye patch over his right eye.

"I come here and expect a good fight and you all up and start dying when I show up, how disappointing."

"What… the hell?" A Marine said, backing away from the man, who somehow exuded murder and crazy.

"Hey you fuck! Where did you come from! What was this shit you just did!" A Batarian pirate said, raising a pistol from several feet away from the man, who simply turned and looked at him.

"Fuck off,"

What happened next was terrifying. The Batarian's arm dropped and then he coughed up blood, fell to his knees and face planted onto the ground. Leaving many to wonder how the hell that happened, and to be answered by the man who did it.

"You got to be kidding, are you all so weak that you can't even take it when I talk with you?" The man asked, looking annoyed.

Everyone backed off; he just killed a guy by looking at him and telling him to beat it, if he could do that. Then simply looking at him could be fatal.

"Well, since I am here, might as well get rid of you guys." He said, standing up and towering over everyone a good six feet and six inches, his single eye looking down at the remaining Alliance Marines. "Since you guys look like shit, I won't bother with you,"

He then looked up at the assembled force of pirates and mercs, smiling like a madman. His pearly white teeth sparkling and his face contorted to that of a homicidal maniac.

"I can kill you all I want, so, let's begin shall we?" His response was a missile to the face, before a barrage of heavy fire went right at him.

It continued for a full minute before everyone had to stop and let their weapons cool. As the smoke cleared it revealed the man, completely unharmed and smirking all the more ferociously.

"Is that it? Come on, throw something at me that may actually hurt me, it's no fun having a one sided slaughter." He said, looking irritated.

His response was the shifting of the AA-gun, it turned towards him and fired, the massive cannon moving to aim at the man.

"Everyone down!" Kyle yelled, watching the massive guns turn and aim at the man who simply smirked.

Then it fired, and watched as the ground simply erupted into a miniature nuclear explosion of force. Sending a powerful shockwave through the area that knocked several merc and pirates on their asses and knocked some clean out.

"The fuck! You idiot, what did you do! You could have killed us all!" A Batarian pirated yelled over the comm. "What do you mean Elysium! What the fuck does that have to do with anything!"

"Impossible…"

Everyone looked up, and watched as the cloud disperse, and instead of a crater with nothing in it. There was the man, hovering over it and with his head bowed. His clothes tattered and his body bruised and covered in gashes. He was shaking, some thought he was hurt severely, but that was not true. He threw back his head and let out a roar of laughter that chilled everyone to the bone.

"That is what I am talking about!" He yelled, glee on his face and in his voice. "Now that you got that gun there, you may actually survive against me, let's find out."

Without a word he leaped higher into the air and descended down toward the terrified pirates, drawing a jagged and worn sword from within his robes. Holding it high he slashed down, and the very ground beneath them ruptured as if an explosion had gone off right where he had struck. Those closest were thrown away, either dead from the force or the edge of the sword or knocked out by the concussive force. But it did not end there.

He emerged from the cloud, hacking and slashing, like a madman he fought against anyone around him. Shrugging off bullets and grenades like they were nothing, smiling like a madman who had nothing better to do than massacre all these people.

"Sir, what do we do?" A Marine asked, fearful as he watched the monster of a man kill his way through dozens if not hundreds of pirates.

Kyle didn't response, the sight of this man butchering the pirates was simply the last straw for him, and he simply sat down and let it happen. He couldn't watch it, he could take it anymore, he just wanted out of this, all he wanted was to go home.

* * *

"What is going on down there," Hackett called over the comms, the energy signature or whatever it was seemed to be disrupting transmissions, and worse still it was right on top of where there men were.

"I don't know sir, I am trying to get a visual,"

"What about that energy signature?" Hackett ordered.

"We are still analysing it, but it is impossible to identify what it is and where it came from." Another officer said, she was looking over the analysis and trying to get the computer to find some form of energy they could use to identify the particular anomaly.

"Sir I have a visual."

"Show me," Hackett ordered, and watched as a screen came to life and showed an orbital view of the fighting.

Immediately he knew what was happening, and he tensed when he saw the monster in this one.

"Another one…" The Admiral murmured, looking at the savage display of swordsmanship this one used.

But he looked to be much worse for wear than last seen, and then he saw why; the image was engulfed in a brilliant explosion and distorted, revealing that the man had been shot by the AA-gun. The image pulled back to see the destruction caused by the gun, a large crater formed and also created a descent wave of force.

But emerging from the cloud was the man, roaring and charging into the next closest batch of pirates that weren't dead. This continued for several seconds before another shot was fired, this one catapulting the man away before he charged back in. None the worse for wear, but the sight of his reddening skin was proof that he wasn't coming out of this unscathed.

But still those AA-guns had a massive hit to them. Those guns have a destructive kinetic force of three kilotons, meaning that the man was surviving blast and receiving only minor injuries was very disturbing indeed.

"Get me someone down there, I need to speak with the men immediately," Hackett ordered, snapping the men out of their trance as they watched the man butcher everything in his path.

* * *

"Dear god! He's fucking taking an AA gun like it's nothing!" A Marine yelled, hiding in a ditch as another explosion went off, courtesy of the AA gun and afterword's only manic laughter was heard.

"This is Admiral Hackett, is anyone receiving me?" The Seventh Fleet Admiral called over the comm.

"T-this is Captain Fulton! Admiral we need help down here, there is this… monster or something!" The currently in charge officer said, Major Kyle simply was zoned out, sitting on a rock and simply grazing at nothing on the ground.

"Captain, reinforcements are on-route, the attack in fully underway, but do not engage while that man is present, do not engage him or threaten him, do you understand?" Admiral Hackett demanded quickly.

"Sir? Is he… with us… or…?" Fulton started.

"Do you understand Captain!" Hackett demanded once more.

"Yes sir, I will keep the men back and wait for backup," Captain Fulton replied weakly, ducking down as another explosion occurred, coming from the AA gun. But not as it was expected, instead of it firing, it had been destroyed and leaping out of the wreckage was the madman in question. Landing on the roof of the bunker and laughing manically.

"It's been a long fucking while since I killed so many people, hell, it's been a while since I've seen my own blood." The madman yelled, smirking proudly before raising his sword up high. "Now, let's finish this."

A wave of energy shot out into the sky, a pillar of golden energy that seemed to warp gravity and the pressure around them. Making it lesson yet somehow grow at the same time, they felt the air in their lungs seize, yet the very earth around them seemed to crack and rise from the ground and fly around.

"Drink: Nozarashi!" He yelled and from him a massive wave of energy exploded, blinding everyone who had the strength to stand and watch.

Then from the release of energy they saw it, a huge axe with a long, cloth-wrapped handle and a tassel attached to the top. The thing was massive, as big as a damn mako and he was holding it up in his hand like it was nothing.

"Now… lets crack this thing open and see what's inside." He laughed, slamming his axe down on top of the bunker, and soon an eruption of force exploded outward as the very surface of the planet shook.

They watched in muted awe as the entire bunker was torn to pieces from a single slash, watching at the entire roof caved in and collapsed into the underground levels. Then without a word the monster of a man dropped down inside the massive hole he had created. Leaving over fifty Alliance marines waiting for reinforcements to arrive before they could even consider following that thing in there.

* * *

_One hour later._

* * *

The explosions and subtle cries of the dying could be heard as they descending through the complex, the entire bunker had been gutted and destroyed by whatever had come through. They couldn't find a single body that had not been brutally or mercifully killed, they were in tattered, even just smears on the wall.

"What the fuck did this?" A marine hissed in worry, it was no surprise; the sentiment was shared between everyone in the squad, and likely everyone else who was moving through and searching for pirates.

"Keep quiet; I don't want anything knowing we're here." Colonel Laurent, she kept her eyes ahead of her, remembering the very words given to her by Admiral Hackett.

'_Do not engage the anomaly, if you come into contact do not antagonise or threaten it, lower your weapons, simply state your name and your affiliation and go no further._'

But even that she did not feel comfortable running into this guy, the fact he had butchered his way through this entire facility meant nothing could stop him. Hell, even an AA gun did nothing to him, what the hell were a couple p-shooters going to do?

"You got to be shitting me?" She heard a loud expletive down the hall; she raised her hands and motioned for the squad to halt. "How the hell did I step out of line?"

Laurent motioned forward her squad, having them move forward slowly and quietly, not knowing what she would be finding.

"You came to this planet and openly engaged them, that is a violation of our laws, you are not to interfere with the affairs of these beings," She heard another voice, and slowly she found a small room that had fallen down into a large opening that had been recently created.

"Yeah, what about Ichigo and that little sister of yours, heard they got their hands dirty, since when are they able to get off scot free?" Laurent looked over the edge and she felt her breath hitch as she saw the massive beast that had caused this chaos, and another one.

The man had long straight black hair with some strange white hair decoration and wearing almost the exact same clothing as the savage looking individual.

"Rukia's actions was within self-defence; those Thrasher Maws as these humans call them attacked her, and she acted accordingly and she did not go there seeking a fight, only searching for those humans that had been killed." The regal looking man replied.

"Yeah, what about Ichigo?"

"His actions while extreme are understandable, considering his nature the deaths inflicted by those pirates would have been so appalling to his own code of honour that killing them was justifiable; besides it was an oversight to allow him to be places on a world to oversee the human race that was at risk of attack." The regal man replied with no hint of emotion. "But he was reprimanded for his actions regardless."

"He didn't get shit, they told him not to do it again and now you're throwing me to the wolves for doing what he did, fucking nerve of you people." The savage sneered with apparent anger.

Laurent watched with interest as these people continued to argue, it would seem that they were not meant to be here. But what surprised her was that they were referring to humanity, and in a way that said that these guys were not human. It begged the question, what the hell were these guys.

She heard a rock shift beside her, and looked to see one of her marines had dropped his foot in a small opening and stumbled. Turning back to see if they had noticed she realized they had, because the regal looking man was looking at her in the eyes and was standing on thin air three feet away from her.

She couldn't speak, let alone move as he simply looked at her with impassive eyes that simply acknowledged that she existed and nothing else. His hand firmly placed over his sword, she would have not thought he would be a danger, but considering the other one, this guy was not something to mess with.

"Captain Samantha Laurent, System Alliance Marine Core, Seventh Fleet, Fourth Battalion." Laurent quickly called out, a sense of dread crawling up her spine as he remained impassive and simply looked at her.

Then he turned and looked at the savage looking man and saying one last thing.

"We are leaving," the man said, turning and seemingly walking through an invisible door as his form simply shifted out of perception. The other man followed, giving off a smirk before disappearing through the same space.

Laurent sagged visibly and took in several deep breaths, that was the most nerve wracking experiences she had ever felt. Never in her life had she ever experienced something like that, to be in the presence of something so powerful, armies would mean nothing against it.

* * *

**Two month later**

* * *

"The Council is asking question, they want answers to what happened on Torfan," Kastanie Drescher said, looking over the order from them to answer for the subsequent massacre on the Torfan surface.

"This is ridiculous; they want us to answer for that?" Mariah Heighton shouted, looking indignant at their claim.

"Yep, in fact they want to know if this is related in any way to Elysium and also want any sensor and surveillance evidence to be presented to them as well." Ines Lindholm replied, looking at said video now, and shuddering as he looked at that manic face.

"Four of them, there are four of these things out there and likely more," Steven Hackett said.

"We got two names, Ichigo and Rukia, he seems to be the one that was present on Torfan, as the other was that girl from Akuze." Ines Lindholm stated, looking over and watching as a girl barely out of her teen years fight against Thrasher Maws, and quite literally lower the surface temperature of the area to nearly absolute zero. It was frightening the abilities these guys could use, it was impossible for them to comprehend what was going on.

"We need to figure out what these guys are and what they want," Jaro Saban said, watching the vid of the conversation between the two recent discoveries.

"_His actions while extreme are understandable, considering his nature the deaths inflicted by those pirates would have been so appalling to his own code of honour that killing them was justifiable; besides it was an oversight to allow him to be places on a world to oversee the human race that was at risk of attack."_

"You see that, they talk about human beings as if they aren't even the same race, are these things even remotely human or just look it?" Jaro Saban asked. "Also he said he was stationed to oversee humanity on these worlds, meaning that others could be watching as well."

"It doesn't matter now, we are here to figure out how we can keep this quiet, if the Council see this, then the Alliance will be in deep shit for the foreseeable future, those politicians will never let this die down." Hackett replied, hoping to any deity out there that they can at least keep them from finding out that the things that attacked looked human.

* * *

"What are they?" Jack Harper inquired, looking over the recent images acquired from Torfan, finding the beings to be quite similar to the unknown being that appeared on Akuze.

"We don't know, but we can be certain that their powers are above anything that is remotely possible," Miranda Lawson replied, standing off to the side of the Illusive Man. She too was staring at the different images with interest, ever since the incident on Akuze their forces have been prepping to find out what these new beings were.

"We're we able to retrieve the sample of the energy signature?" The Illusive Man asked.

"Yes sir," Miranda replied, a smile on her face and pleased slightly at the success. "It is quite powerful as well; a single atom is nearly eighteen times more energy efficient than element zero, but is hard to control."

"Continue working on it, and also see if you can use it to locate these entities, and if so, try to find measure in capturing one," The Illusive Man said.

"Is that wise sir, they are quite dangerous," Miranda said, looking at the blood thirsty maniac that seemed very content on killing everything in his path.

"Yes, if we can figure out what these beings are, then we can study them and possibly use them," The Illusive man stated, already thinking over the possibilities of having beings like these under his command, they could bring humanity to the very top.

A single solider could level entire armies, a squad could conquer planets; an army would conquer to entire galaxy.

* * *

**There you have it, the plot thickens, well not really.**


End file.
